The NHL is debuting a new 3-on-3 format today in Nashville that will that hopefully inject some new life into its sagging annual All-Star game event. This is the first All-Star game since the greatest one ever played, Rendez-vous ’87, that actually has my toes tingling before puck drop.
After seeing what our friends at Die By The Blade (thank you, Ryan Evans) did putting together a Sabres only All-Star game, we applied their fantastic idea to our Florida Panthers, with Francisco dividing the club’s relatively brief history into four distinct eras: the Expansion Era (1993-1997/98), the Sunrise Era (1998/99-2004), the Post-Lockout Era (2005-2009/10) and the Tallon Era (2010/11-current). I picked the rosters, consisting of six forwards, three defensemen and two goalies, with some input from Donny and Francisco.
Expansion Era
Forwards: Scott Mellanby, Rob Neidermayer, Stu Barnes, Ray Sheppard, Dave Lowry, Jesse Belanger
Defensemen: Ed Jovanovski, Robert Svhela, Gord Murphy
Goalies: John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick
Sunrise Era
Forwards: Pavel Bure, Ray Whitney, Viktor Kozlov, Kristian Huselius, Radek Dvorak, Marcus Nilson
Defensemen: Sandis Ozolinsh, Dan Boyle, Bret Hedican
Goalies: Roberto Luongo, Trevor Kidd
Post Lockout Era
Forwards: Olli Jokinen, Stephen Weiss, Nathan Horton, David Booth, Jozef Stumpel, Cory Stillman
Defensemen: Jay Boumeester, Bryan McCabe, Keith Ballard
Goalies: Tomas Vokoun, Craig Anderson
Tallon Era
Forwards: Aleksander Barkov, Jaromir Jagr, Jonathan Huberdeau, Tomas Fleischmann, Nick Bjugstad, Jussi Jokinen
Defensemen: Brian Campbell, Aaron Ekblad, Jason Garrison
Goalies: Roberto Luongo 2.0, Jose Theodore
That would be a pretty juicy All-Star tournament for Panther fans. Which 11-man squad do you think would emerge victorious? Would you have put the teams together differently? Vote in the poll and let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
Which era would win in an all-time Panthers 3-on-3 tournament?
| Expansion Era | 6 |
| Sunrise Era | 32 |
| Post Lockout Era | 12 |
| Tallon Era | 45 |