The Hockey News — and many other similar publications — predicted the Florida Panthers would finish sixth out of the eight teams in the Atlantic Division this season, way out of playoff contention.
And, up until Jan. 30, all those fortune tellers were correct. The Panthers were even worse than predicted — 28th out of 30 NHL teams at that point.
Because of injuries, the Panthers were down to their third goaltender — a complete NHL novice named Harri Sateri. The coach, Bob Boughner, was and is in his first year running an NHL team, and no Panthers fan could be blamed for looking toward the draft.