via Greg Cote of the Miami Herald,

This is our annual State of the Franchise report for Greater Miami’s five major professional teams.

I could cut to the chase and put it all under the following umbrella: We stink! But that would not be entirely fair, so let’s expand a bit and go team-by-team, including the Big Hope for each:

Panthers: Save a miracle finish, Florida will be an NHL playoff spectator for the 20th time in 25 seasons. Expectations were much higher, but a terrible start, raging inconsistency and generally poor defense have thwarted the Cats and coach Bob Boughner, who may be headed for thin ice if not already skating on it.

For years now the Panthers have boasted a promising young core led by Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau and seemed poised for a breakout season but ultimately disappointed. General manager Dale Tallon must find a way to finish what he started. The Cats lack a big goal-scorer. One also wonders if the end is near for goalie Roberto Luongo, at age 39 and with numbers (3.11 goals-against average, .897 saves percentage) that rank 41st in the league.

Florida’s weekend trade with Pittsburgh was notable. Dealing Nick Bjugstad (once a cornerstone) and Jared McCann was a concession by Tallon to what’s next, since the draft picks acquired and the $5 million in cap space saved were more important to the Cats moving forward than the two players received..

The Big Hope: Florida now has the money to be a player in a trade or free agency, and needs to hit big, preferably with a dynamic goal-scorer. Barkov, 23, is a budding superstar, but unless you give him the help to get him to the Stanley Cup playoffs, you are wasting what could be a generational player.