Florida Panthers Free Agent Frenzy

On the first day of NHL free agency 2011, the biggest mover and shaker was the Florida Panthers, spending over $80 million during a 2 day period. They clearly made the biggest splash committing the most money over the longest number of years. Ed Jovanovski $16M over 4 years, Scottie Upshall $14M, Tomas Fleischman $18M, Sean Bergenheim $11M, and Tom Kopecky $12M. They were the talk of the league on Friday, and yet they still do not have a single player who surpassed the 50 point plateau. In addition to all these signings, they also acquired the albatross contract of Brian Campbell last week. That is one of the worst contracts in the NHL. At the end of the day the Panthers are a better a team, I just don't know if they are a good team. Going out and making a big splash in a shallow free agent pool doesn't exactly guarantee long term success. All of these players were signed to generous deals on extended terms, so if the group doesn't work out, they are stuck with them.