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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. Nike Schoenen Sale Outlet .com) - Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points with eight rebounds to lead the New York Knicks to a 92-80 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. 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"I dont believe she has an injury," Hobart tournament director Mark Handley said.(SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Rangers will try to sweep their season series against the Detroit Red Wings when the Original Six rivals battle on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. Watch the Rangers vs. Red Wings live on TSN2 at 12:30pm et/9:30am pt. The Rangers have won three straight over the Red Wings following a five-game slide in the series. New York is 2-0 against Detroit this season, posting a road overtime decision on Oct. 26 before picking up a 1-0 regulation win at the Garden on Jan. 16. Henrik Lundqvist recorded the shutout on Jan. 16 after making 38 saves for the Rangers. The Swedish netminder expects to get the start on Sunday and is 2-3-1 with a 2.66 goals against average in six career games against the Red Wings. Jimmy Howard stopped 47-of-48 shots in the tough-luck loss against New York in January. He is 2-1-1 with a 1.72 GAA in four lifetime outings versus the Blueshirts and will get the start on Sunday. New York enters Sundays battle as the third-place team in the Metropolitan Division and is one point in back of Philadelphia for second place. The top three teams in each division earn an automatic bid to the playoffs. Detroit, meanwhile, is currently tied with Columbus for the last of the Eastern Conferences eight playoff seeds, With the Blue Jackets idle on Sunday, the Red Wings have a chance to take sole possession of the second wild card spot. The Rangers and Red Wings both are coming off victories on Friday night. New York posted a 4-2 win at Carolina, while Detroit slammed the visiting New Jersey Devils by a 7-4 score. The Blueshirts halted a three-game slide with their win in Raleigh. Derek Stepans power-play goal with 2:46 remaining highlighted a third-period rally that lifted New York to the 4-2 decision over the Hurricanes at PNC Arena. All four New York scores came in the final 12:35 of play, with the newly acquired Martin St. Louis setting up Stepans tally on a 5-on-3 power play that snapped a 2-2 deadlock. The assisted marked the first point for St. Louis in two games with the Rangers since he was acquired Wednesday in the deal that Ryan Callahan to Tampa. "He made a nice pass," Rangers head coaach Alain Vigneault said of St.dddddddddddd Louis. "(The power play) is something that we havent practiced since Martys been with us, but he did a good job of explaining what we were looking for and he made a great play." Both Stepan and Rick Nash finished with a goal and an assist in the Rangers 10th straight win over Carolina, with Ryan McDonagh adding a shorthanded marker and Carl Hagelin sealing the outcome with an empty netter. Lundqvist posted 22 saves to pick up the win, his first in four outings since helping Team Sweden pick up a silver medal last month at the Sochi Olympics. After todays tilt in Manhattan, the Rangers will play three straight and six of their next seven games on the road. New York is 15-15-4 as the host this season and 19-11-0 as the guest. Detroit had lost two in a row before routing the Devils on Friday. Johan Franzen had two goals and two assists to help the Red Wings notch the 7-4 victory. Gustav Nyquist posted a goal and three assists and David Legwand had a goal and two assists for the Red Wings. Jonas Gustavsson made 21 stops in the win. "The guys kept putting in all their chances they were getting and that gave us a lot of energy," said Gustavsson. "Its not every night you score seven goals, but it was fun for the crowd." Legwand registered a three-point night in his second game with the Red Wings. The veteran forward was acquired from Nashville on Wednesday for forward Patrick Eaves, a conditional third-round pick and forward prospect Calle Jarnkrok. The 33-year-old Legwand, a native of the Detroit area, skated on the Red Wings top line with Franzen and Nyquist "Obviously two great players, world-class players. Its an honor to play with them and we had the puck tonight, we were moving it and I think obviously when you can move and skate its going to create some chances and opportunities," said Legwand, who was named the games first star. The Red Wings are playing two straight and three of their next four tests on the road. Detroit is 17-10-4 as the visiting team this season, but has lost two straight and three of its last five games in NYC. ' ' '