On the eve of a titanic showdown against the Washington Capitals, General Manager Dale Tallon adamantly said that for the first time in years the Panthers will be buyers and not holding their annual February trade deadline fire sale.

With 26 games remaining and the revamped Southeast Division-leading Panthers clinging to a four-point lead over the Capitals, Tallon showed the Sun Sentinel a list of about a dozen crossed-off names of GMs who he had called before the team's 11 a.m. practice had ended Thursday.

"We're not sellers,'' Tallon said. "We got five games before the deadline, so we'll know better. We got a good team, so it's a matter of adding pieces. We're moving forward from here; we're not subtracting.''

It would probably take a pedestrian 14-11-1 finish to earn 95 points and a playoff berth.


Tallon, who dumped six veterans before last year's trade deadline, wants to add offense to a team ranked 21st in goals and 26th in 5-on-5 goals.

"The easier we can score goals, the better it is on your stomach,'' Tallon said.

Tallon said he's not interested in a "rent-a-player,'' possibly excluding a veteran scorer with an expiring contract such as Oilers forward Ryan Smith.

While Tallon is obsessed with ending the Panthers' NHL-record 11-year playoff drought, he won't mortgage the future by taking on a burdensome contract like Blue Jackets' underachieving center Jeff Carter.

However, Columbus' Rick Nash, a 30-goal scorer in his prime signed through 2018 for $55 million, could be worth the price. Edmonton slumping, oft-injured wing Ales Hemsky, 28, who has a couple of 20-goal seasons, could fit the bill.

It's no secret the Panthers could use an upgrade at center, so the Lightning's Dominic Moore, who wins 55.7 percent of his faceoffs, could return to South Florida.

Tallon said that injured defensemen Ed Jovanovski and Jason Garrison should be back before the Feb. 27 deadline, so he won't pursue a Band-Aid on the blue line.

"The phones are really quiet,'' Tallon said. "A lot of teams are still looking to see if they're buying or selling, so they're all kicking the tires.

"The worst-case scenario is we're staying pat.''

Weiss mad at refs

Panthers center Stephen Weiss, who ranks 11th in the league with 531 faceoffs won, was repeatedly kicked out of the faceoff circle by linesmen during Wednesday's 6-2 loss to Ottawa.

That forced wingers Kris Versteeg and Tomas Fleischmann to step in and go a combined 1-4 on critical draws during power plays.

"They stand there for 10 minutes with the freaking thing in their hand. They're a joke,'' an angered Weiss said. "They need to drop the puck and stay out of the player's way, and that's it."

Dineen unhappy

The Panthers' fourth line of Matt Bradley, John Madden and Jack Skille were on the ice for Ottawa's first two deflected goals scored by two rookies who have a combined five career goals.

"I didn't think they had a very good shift and wasn't happy with the way they played,'' Dineen said.

"I like to put players in challenging situations where they have the ability to respond to adversity, and honestly
they dinn't."