I think it’s safe to say that we should prepare for next season. Without Vincent Trocheck for an extended period of time and the fact that like in the past 5 years 62 out of 80 teams that made the playoffs were in a spot at Thanksgiving makes it very unlikely the Panthers will make the playoffs. However in the 2015-16 season at Thanksgiving the Panthers were 5 points out of 3rd place in their division. Right now they are 7 points out of a wildcard. Yes they have played the fewest games in the NHL but it isn’t pretty. The goaltending is a mess and the D can’t do anything. Now we are at .500. I think we still have a chance but the Panthers goaltending needs to be consistent. To be completely honest, I see this a deja vu of last year. The Trocheck injury exposed the lack of depth at center. No one can win a faceoff except Barkov. Management refuses to call up Borgstrom despite being a point per game. Dale Tallon has a big decision to make. He has to be willing to give up higher picks and some higher prospects to be able to succeed. I don’t think he is willing to though. Hopefully Trocheck isn’t out long and we see Jared McCann step up big time.