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The Florida Panthers had money to spend in free agency, and loaded up, bringing in four forwards, one defenceman and a goaltender on the first day of free agency. Numbers Game looks at the Panthers big first day of free agency. The Panthers Get: LW Jussi Jokinen, C Dave Bolland, C, Derek MacKenzie, RW Shawn Thornton, D Willie Mitchell, G Al Montoya. The Florida Panthers headed into the offseason giving general manager Dale Tallon more financial freedom than theyve had in recent seasons, and he wasted no time spending that money, with mixed results. Jokinen, 31, had a strong season playing on Evgeni Malkins wing in Pittsburgh, scoring 57 points in 81 games, the second-best point total of his career. That situation is not a luxury that Jokinen can count on in Florida where, despite their young talent, they have no one in Malkins class, but Jokinen has shown that he can be a productive contributor with solid possession numbers when playing with skilled players. Slot him alongside young Finn Aleksander Barkov and that has the makings of a solid two-way line and maybe Jokinen isnt likely to be scoring 50-plus points in Florida, where no one scored even 40 points last season, but Jokinen can be a useful player for at least three of the four years for which he signed, at a total cost of $16-million. Then, things got silly. Coming into free agency, there was a natural connection to make between Dave Bolland and Panthers GM Dale Tallon, given their time together in Chicago, but Bolland is a third-line centre so its really hard to justify the kind of money and term that was given. Bolland signed a five-year, $27.5-million contract, and its just flat-out outrageous. Bolland played well with the Maple Leafs last season, at least he did when he was healthy, but hes missed 142 games over the past five seasons and is coming off a season in which he missed 59 games due to a sliced ankle tendon. At his best, Bolland has been productive, scoring more than 35 points three times, and handled a lot of tough assignments in terms of zone starts and quality of competition, but assuming that hes up to that level now, after his latest injury, seems a tad optimistic and paying money and term that is more typical of a top-six forward is just really difficult to digest. For a checking centre, he also hasnt been very good at limiting shots against while killing penalties. Sure, the Panthers are nowhere near the cap now, and maybe they never will be, but its hard to take a team from being also-rans to contenders simply by paying a checking centre a boatload of money. By contrast, Paul Stastny and Thomas Vanek were the only two free agent forwards to come at a higher cap hit and neither one signed for five years. They didnt get as much term as Dave Bolland. MacKenzie, a 33-year-old checking centre, has been a reliable fourth-liner for the Blue Jackets. He had a career-high 237 hits last season and in four seasons with the Blue Jackets, hes won 54.9% of his draws. Signed for three years and $3.9-million, MacKenzie gives the Panthers good depth down the middle and it looks like Bolland and MacKenzie are going to bump prospects like Brandon Pirri and Vince Trocheck down the depth chart, presumably right out of the Top 12 unless they can fit on the wing. Shawn Thornton is a tough guy whose game has been declining in recent seasons. Hes fought 90 times over the past six seasons, but thats about what the 36-year-old (who turns 37 later this month) can do at this point. Whether thats worth more than a million dollars per season or multiple years probably has different answers for teams that arent trying to reach the salary floor. After missing the entire 2012-2013 season, Willie Mitchell had a nice comeback season, playing more than 20 minutes a night, a crucial part of the Kings second Stanley Cup win in the past three seasons. Hes 37, so not the fleetest afoot, but Mitchell has size, strength and adds a shot of reliability to the Panthers defence. In Mitchell and Brian Campbell (at least for now), the Panthers have a couple veterans that could show the way for first overall draft pick Aaron Ekblad and Mitchell, while a decent addition gets a nice payday -- two years, $8.5-million -- to eat some minutes on the Panthers blueline. Backup goaltender Al Montoya is a 29-year-old who posted a .920 save percentage in 28 games with the Jets last season. Trouble is, in the prevous two seasons, his save percentage was .894, so its not really reasonable to expect more than Montoyas career average which is .910. Adding Montoya would figure to mark the end of Dan Ellis time in Florida, though it may be difficult to find a taker for a 34-year-old coming off the worst season of his career. The Florida Panthers spent big money in the summer of 2011, overpaying a bunch of veterans in order to reach the salary floor, and this year has a similar feel to it. The issue for the Panthers is that they are a franchise that has reached the postseason once in the past 13 years; they dont need to overpay free agents as much as they need to build a stable base of talent. With all the money the Panthers spent on July 1, theres not much reason to believe any of those players are going to be long-term answers. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Vapormax Plus Wholesale . -- The Minnesota Twins have granted relief pitcher Matt Guerrier his unconditional release, making the 35-year-old right-hander a free agent. Vapormax Flyknit Womens Ireland . While Minnesota takes aim at its eighth win of November, the Canadiens will try to post just their third victory in nine games this month. http://www.outletvapormaxireland.com/vapormax-flyknit-wholesale-china.html . The Detroit Tigers slugger fell short in his bid to become the first player to win the Triple Crown in successive seasons. Air Foamposite Wholesale . DeGrom outpitched Jake Peavy in a tantalizing hitless duel that carried into the seventh inning Saturday night before the New York Mets broke loose and beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2. Cheap Air Foamposite . The San Angelo, Texas product, who was a high school and college quarterback sensation in the Lone Star State, will start his first CFL game with the Saskatchewan Roughriders (9-4) on Friday at Mosaic Stadium against the leagues top team, the Calgary Stampeders (11-2). NEW YORK -- Part of Brooklyns resurgence this month has been due, in large part, to the team trusting each other on both ends of the court and buying into first-year coach Jason Kidds plan. The Nets continued their winning ways Tuesday by sweeping a back-to-back set for the first time this season, beating the Orlando Magic 101-90 a night after routing the crosstown rival New York Knicks. "Its a sign that were showing consistency with what were trying to do around here," said Nets forward Paul Pierce, who along with Joe Johnson, the other forward in Kidds small lineup, chipped 13 points apiece. Andray Blatche had another great game off the bench, scoring a team-high 18 points, and reserve forward Mirza Teletovic added 14 points as the Nets won for the eighth time in nine games. "Were not only winning, but were pretty convincingly turning it on in the third quarter with the defence, the way were moving the ball, Pierce said. "Thats what we want. Thats all he wants out of us, night in, night out, a consistent effort. Thats what were trying to do especially in back-to-backs." The Nets 8-1 start in January is an NBA best after a disappointing 10-21 start to their second season in Brooklyn. The Nets improved to 2-6 in the second game of a back-to-back. Once again, Kidd stuck with the same starting unit since Deron Williams went down with an ankle injury. Kidds starting five of Pierce, Johnson, Kevin Garnett, Alan Anderson and Shaun Livingston improved to 6-0. "For us coming off the back-to-back, we havent had that much success -- if any. This was more or less -- no matter who the opponent was -- it was about trying to get a win against a team we hadnt had back-to-back win," Kidd said. Despite heavy snow that was expected to dump 8-14 inches on the city, there were barely any empty seats with 15,482 in attendance at Barclays Center. New York City native Kyle OQuinn led Orlando with 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench. ETwaun Moore had 13 points for the Magic, who lost for the 10th time in 11 games. Brooklyn built an early seven-point lead in the second quarter after Williams, who came off the bench for the second straight game, hit a 3-pointer to make it 31-24 with just 10:34 remaining. But the second unit started to lose that lead as the offence became stagnant.dddddddddddd. Tied 38-all with 3:51 remaining in the second quarter, the Nets went on an 8-4 run to close out the first half up 46-42. The Nets, who had been plagued by a lack of effort in the second half during the first two months of the season, buckled down in the beginning of the third quarter after allowing the Magic to hit 50 per cent of their shots in the first half. Brooklyn came out focused on the defensive end as they had done during its previous seven victories and held the Magic to just 3 for 21 from the field. "Well that was the difference in the game, the third quarter", Orlando coach Jacque Vaughn said. "Their approach, the way they came out. They hit us first and we didnt have an answer." Orlando missed its first nine shots of the quarter and the Nets were able to capitalize, going on an 18-6 run to take a 64-48 lead with 5:09 left in the period. Aaron Afflalo then made the Magics first bucket with 4:50 remaining. "We stopped moving the ball. We stopped playing together. We stopped playing defence. We stopped doing everything. ... We just laid down," said Magic forward Glen Davis. "To be in the game and to have a chance to win the game and we just let it go like that, its just really disappointing." The 14 points scored by Orlando in that quarter were a Nets opponent season low. Williams had nine points and dished out nine assists in 28 minutes. It was his second game back after missing the last five due to a sprained ankle. "I think our third quarters have been a lot better. That was a problem a lot in the first half of the season," Williams said. "We just came out and couldnt get going and got blown out the water. Weve definitely been better since the start of the new year." The Nets have allowed 91.7 points per game during their eight wins in January. NOTES: Brooklyn has won four straight games over Southeast Division opponents after starting out the year 1-4. Theyve beaten Atlanta twice, Miami and now Orlando. . Williams nine assists moved him past Stephon Marybury into eighth place on the teams all-time assist list. . Blatche has averaged 19.7 points during his last three games. ' ' '