For most of this season, when you looked up "dysfunction" in the dictionary, the Florida Panthers logo popped up.
An offseason of internal upheaval that saw longtime personnel and scouting staff (among others) dismissed, along with a shuffling of management responsibilities, was followed by injuries to key players and an unpopular coaching change when Gerard Gallant was fired a few months after being named a finalist for coach of the year.
The team was flayed publicly. And so, on the ice, last year's run to the Atlantic Division crown looked like a mirage. So much for traction for a team more often linked to relocation talk than playoff success.