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It really didnt come as a surprise that the Florida Panthers fired head coach Kevin Dineen Friday, but its not like a change in the coaching staff is going to magically cure what ails this team. Any time a team fails to meet expectations, coaches end up on the chopping block, but that leads to the question: why would there have been expectations put upon the Florida Panthers for the 2013-2014 season? Go back to the 2011-2012 season, when the Panthers won the Southeast Division, with 94 points in 82 games, despite recording 32 regulation and overtime wins, a total that tied non-playoff teams Buffalo, Carolina (who finished last in the Southeast Division) and Colorado for 20th in the league. The Panthers also had a minus-24 goal differential, so anything beyond the point total in the standings suggested they were not really a playoff-calibre team. Consider them a prime example of a team not being what its record is. Then the Panthers proceeded to lose in double-overtime of Game Seven (after losing in overtime in Game Six) in the first round of the playoffs against the eventual Eastern-Conference-Champion New Jersey Devils, making it easy to sell the idea that the Panthers were "this close" to competing with the top teams in the league. It needs to be noted, however, that the Panthers overachieved in 2011-2012, to even generate mediocre results disguised as playoff-worthy. Florida needed to spend a lot of money in the summer of the 2011 season just to get above the salary floor and, as a result, cobbled together a make-shift roster, handing out some contracts that had surprisingly long-term implications. Sure, Florida signed Tomas Fleischmann (four years, $18-million), and he scored a career-high 61 points in 2011-2012, and has generally been a productive scorer since. C Marcel Goc (three years, $5.19-million) has been okay and G Jose Theodore (two years, $3-million) was a low-risk move, but the Panthers also inked RW Scottie Upshall (four years, $14-million), D Ed Jovanovski (four years, $16.5-million) and LW Sean Bergenheim (four years, $11-million), none of whom has provided a decent return on investment. (Injuries have admittedly played a part in their lack of production.) The Panthers also dipped into GM Dale Tallons past and traded for some former Chicago Blackhawks: D Brian Campbell, RW Kris Versteeg and RW Tomas Kopecky. That roster didnt have any business harbouring playoff expectations yet, with Dineen taking over for Peter DeBoer behind the bench, the Panthers defied the odds and reached the postseason, thanks in large part to Fleischmann, Versteeg and Stephen Weiss, their top line that combined for 70 goals and 172 points. Campbell added 53 points while playing nearly 27 minutes per game. That quartet made up the entire list of Florida Panthers to record more than 33 points that season, so there wasnt a lot coming from the supporting cast. The 2013 season brought much worse results, particularly when injuries limited Weiss and Versteeg to a total of 27 games and the goaltending went from decent, ranking 11th with a .914 save percentage, to a league-worst .887 save percentage in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. Those injuries, and subpar goaltending, over a small-sample season may have been what led Tallon to still harbour expectations for this team coming into the 2013-2014 season. Or maybe its because there is a new owner calling the shots that the Panthers couldnt simply see the 2013-2014 season as one for development of their young talent. After all, the Panthers have added some promising young players including LW Jonathan Huberdeau, C Aleksander Barkov and C Nick Bjugstad, who are all playing significant minutes. D Erik Gudbranson, the third overall pick in 2010, and D Dmitry Kulikov, the 14th pick in 2009 are still works in progress, but young enough to be part of what the Panthers are trying to build. G Jacob Markstrom is supposed to be the goaltender of the future, even if the 23-year-old has struggled this year. Forwards Vincent Trocheck and Drew Shore and defencemen Alex Petrovic and Colby Robak have been in the AHL, playing for new head coach Peter Horacheck. Trocheck, who has 11 points in 11 games as a first-year pro and nearly made the Panthers out of training camp, could get his opportunity soon. In the summer of 2013, the Panthers didnt spend big money, but brought in a lot of veterans on low-money deals. Defencemen Tom Gilbert has been a bargain as a top-four defenceman while Matt Gilroy and checking forward Jesse Winchester have been decent. Veteran forwards Brad Boyes and Scott Gomez along with blueliner Ryan Whitney have not been effective and goaltender Tim Thomas hasnt been able to stay healthy in his attempt to return to action after a year off. As a result, the Panthers have the leagues 28th-ranked goal differential (minus-1.36 per game), ahead of only the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres. Unfortunately, the goaltending hasnt gotten any better this season, ranking 28th with an .885 save percentage, and no team can win with goaltending of that calibre, let alone a team that isnt scoring at the other end of the ice and the Panthers rank 29th in 5-on-5 shooting percentage when the score is close. The good news, according to the probabilities of advanced stats, is that the Panthers arent likely to maintain such terrible shooting and save percentages all season, so they are due to get some better results; a little "puck luck" as it were. Of course, being better than their current 3-9-4 record doesnt mean all that much. When those young players start to control play more consistently and the Panthers start getting adequate goaltending, they may turn the corner, but thats going to require patience and the expectations placed on this team dont necessarily allow for patience. Trouble is, when a general manager makes moves that appear to reveal a lack of patience, its fair to start wondering if the next one on the chopping block will be the GM. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. .com) - Stanley Johnson had 18 points and No. . According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, it doesnt appear the offer was warmly received by the team. Blue Jackets director of hockey operations John Davidson and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said on Wednesday the team has made offers of $6 million for two years, $32 million for six and $46 million over eight years but each one was refused by the restricted free agent centre and agent Kurt Overhardt. http://www.authenticbearsnflfansmall.co ... ersey.aspx. But its also a smart game. Theres more to the Kings than banging bodies. They take a toll mentally on their opponents. . His big 2-minute outburst in the fourth quarter Tuesday night is all that really mattered for the Dallas Mavericks. ... maybe even more than that. Maybe all season I have to take a few blows.WASHINGTON -- After striking out 13 times in an 11-1 loss to Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals on Friday night, the San Diego Padres had reason to look forward to facing a much less-imposing pitcher on Saturday. But San Diego had even more trouble against right-hander Tanner Roark, who pitched a three-hitter for the first complete game of his career as the Nationals shut out the Padres 4-0. The 27-year-old set down the first 16 batters before San Diego catcher Rene Rivera, an .074 batter entering the game, hit a solid single to centre field with one out in the sixth inning. San Diego managed to get just two more singles in the game and didnt get a runner past second base. "He had a good sinker, changeup, was keeping the ball down especially," said San Diego first baseman Yonder Alonzo, who went 0-for-3. San Diego entered Saturdays game tied for the second-worst batting average in the National League (.226) and saw it drop further. In a span of 19 hours and 18 innings, the Padres got 13 hits, all singles, and fanned 21 times. When Saturdays game was over, only two of the nine players San Diego started had batting averages better than .200 -- shortstop Everth Cabrera (.300) and outfielder Chris Denorfia (.324). "We do hope that the offence gets better, that guys get to their career averages -- at some point," manager Bud Black said. San Diego struggled in many facets on Saturday. The Padres made three infield errors. Second baseman Jedd Gyorko would have had two had it not been for a generous ruling. Jayson Werths hopper up the middle might have been an inning-ending double-play. But after it was initially ruled an error, it was changed to a single. Either way, the play allowed Washington to grab a 3-0 lead in the first inning, all the runs the Nationals needed against Padres ace Andrew Cashner (2-3). "What weve got to stay away from is the hitters letting their offence go into their defence," Black said. "When you dont score and you make a couple errors, they become magnified because its so important when youre not scoring.dddddddddddd" Mixing three other pitches with his modest 92 mph fastball, Roark (2-0) walked one and struck out eight, including Gyorko to end the game on his 105th pitch. "I was feeling confident out there on the mound, felling strong," Roark said. "Getting ahead of the hitters is the biggest thing." Roark has been more than a one-hit wonder for the Nationals. Since taking his spot in the rotation, he has produced eight quality starts in 10 attempts with a 5-1 record. Roark extended his run of consecutive scoreless innings to 18. In 35 innings at Nationals Park he has given up one earned run. On Saturday, he extended the frustrations of the Padres. "We played terrible today, honestly," Alonzo said. "We didnt defend, didnt hit. Cash kept us in the game, He always does. Hes our ace. He will always keep us in the game. Today we werent behind him. We didnt play good defence. It was somewhat of an embarrassment." Washington increased its advantage to 4-0 in the sixth when Kevin Frandsen opened with a single, moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Roark, and scored on a single to left by Denard Span. Frandsen was starting in left field for Bryce Harper, who was out of the lineup with a jammed thumb. Notes: X-rays on the jammed thumb of Harper were negative, according to manager Matt Williams, who said that Harper was undergoing an MRI after the game. Williams said that Harper was available to pinch-hit. ... The Nationals had their second successful replay challenge in three games as Werth was ruled safe at second base, taking two bases on a booted ground ball. ... Padres outfielder Seth Smith was out of the lineup for the second straight day and will remain day-to-day after suffering a strained groin Thursday night against the Nationals. He was scheduled to take cuts in the batting cage on Saturday and for light jogging on Sunday. ... Washington right-hander Taylor Jordan (0-3, 6.23 ERA) will face San Diego right-hander Ian Kennedy (1-3, 3.60) on Sunday. ' ' '