Florida Panthers Elbow Room, Relocation, And Patience
By Tim Redinger
The Buffalo Sabres play the Florida Panthers tonight as they try to restart a winning streak, a winning streak that again was thwarted at three games, but included wins against two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and the NHL. This is the second meeting of the year for the two teams, the first being a 1-0 shutout victory for the Florida Panthers back on October 17th.
A lot has happened for both teams in that time frame, lets take a look at the Florida Panthers to get ready for tonight’s action. Despite their woeful start, the Florida Panthers are on the cusp of being a playoff team. They are just two points behind the two wild card teams, primarily because of the amount of loser points the Panthers have accumulated. The Florida Panthers have seven overtime losses, which leads the league.
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The biggest black eye for the Florida Panthers this season has been the negative attention the team’s attendance numbers have drawn. The team decided this year to cutout free and discounted tickets unlike previous seasons, and it has caused a severe impact on the number of people at hockey games. Their improved play has likely had something to do with the recent surge at the ticket booth (if you want to call it a surge) and tonight’s game against Buffalo could stand to be the biggest crowd on hand for a game in Sunrise, Florida. Bigger crowds are on the way, but more likely due to opposing fans visiting sunny Florida.
Second to the talk of the expansive sections of open seats was the talk that Florida might just be getting an empty arena to dot their landscape when the team up and relocates. Gary Bettman and the team has assured the locals that the team isn’t going anywhere, but if the franchise can’t be supported by the local community via ticket sales, then what decision does the team have? No one gets into any business to lose money. I will agree with Bettman on one thing, it isn’t fair to the franchise for all the talk to distract them during the season, but when your attendance and team are that bad, distraction might be a good thing.
Patience is going to be the key for the Florida Panthers. Patience with their current players, the ones that they will trade for. With being on the cusp of a playoff spot, the right move could get the Florida Panthers in the top eight conversation; the wrong move could have them talking McDavid/Eichel.
Game time tonight is 7PM.