So did you hear the one about Olli Jokinen? He goes to the beach for yet another cushy career stop on the road to nowhere and winds up finding out he really is a NHL player.

	Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is part of the foundation for the Panthers' playoff future.

And Jay Bouwmeester? Mr. Teen-aged Team Savior for the spring break crowd? He hasn't taken on the mythic proportions of the missing Eddie Jovanovski, but given a little time, he could salve that stinging memory.

But seriously, Florida folks, your hockey team isn't anything to tease about anymore.

If the Panthers can take down Toronto on Wednesday night, they'll be a .500 hockey team again, and be right back in the thick of the Southeast Division chase. Oh, that's a laugh, too?

OK, pre-Christmas playoff rushes aren't anything to advertise, but at least it appears that a couple of months down the road, the Southeast playoff angle will at least be something for the media to pursue.

Not only did the Carolina Hurricanes win respect for the division last spring with an unlikely run to the Finals, but if the young players for Florida's two respective hockey teams continue to play like they have, this division could be looking at four teams battling for -- gasp! -- two available playoff positions in the East instead of the annual, automatic divisional champion seed.

"Look at the last dozen games," Mike Keenan said of his team before a recent game at the Office Depot Center. "We've had one or two down games but I think you'd have to be fairly pleased. I say to them that with the exception of two players, you're all the same age as a (recent) college graduate. There's a big difference between somebody that's graduating from college and somebody who's in freshman year of college."

Keenan's point? OK, that's always a tough question. But this time, it seems he's saying that although he has the youngest group of players in the conference, it wouldn't take much more than hard work and determination for them to surprise everybody, especially their fans, by the time spring is in the Sunrise air.

"I guess if it's called parity, it's arrived in full swing," said Keenan. "More than any other year that I can recall. The teams that are down aren't that far down. They're still in the hunt and the teams that are above us aren't clear-cut. So it may become one of those years where it's 82, 83 or 84 points make the playoffs on both sides."

Right now, however, holiday reality is taking a big bite out of the Panthers' bubble. Amid a charitable stand in which they play just seven games, six of them at home, the Panthers are 0-2-1 in their last three, all at the Depot. That's not the only reason Toronto will be favored for this game, but it's one of them.

For the Panthers have won just four games at home, lowest of all Eastern Conference clubs.

"Every time when you come into the rink, you should be ready to work," Jokinen said. "Something has to change. Obviously we're not ready to play at home."

Yes, these young Panthers can frustrate a man, even someone with the (too) laid-back pedigree of Sandis Ozolinsh, who last week allowed himself to wax veteran and wail about his team's lack of man-advantage power and home ice advantages.

"Sometimes, we need a big kick in the ass to get us going," Ozolinsh said after a come-from-the-dead tie with Carolina on Friday. "We had lost the last two games at home and gave up at some point in those games. We couldn't do that three games in a row. It's focus, focus, focus. It's Young Team Syndrome. I think when we get a man advantage, all of a sudden we bring our intensity down."

Seems all a part of the territory for a young team, characteristics that can drive coaches crazy. Good thing Keenan has been there and back.

Never one to put all his locker room nuts in one basket or act like he's holding onto all of his marbles, Keenan has helped convince GM Rick Dudley to make a couple of moves that both help for now (taking on everything that is Ozo; acquiring Keenan's adopted son Stephane Matteau) and build for the future (losing defenseman Dmitry Yushkevich for prospects).

Top forwards like Jokinen, Kristian Huselius and Marcus Nilson are all 24. Rapidly developing forwards Niklas Hagman and Ivan Novoseltsev are each 23, as is goalie Roberto Luongo and defenseman Brad Ference. Then there's Bouwmeester and Stephen Weiss, both capable NHL players at 19, both future stars.

But if the plan was for change to come slowly … it isn't.

"The fact that we're still right in the playoff picture, in the midst of it, I'm pleased with the progress of the team," said Keenan. "Considering we are the youngest team in the league, I expect that to go on for the rest of the season. It's interesting because it puts a great deal of pressure on some teams."

With a team too young to be so stressed, Keenan is in his element. His first NHL head-coaching job was in Philadelphia, where he took over a team with several established players and convinced Flyers boss Bob Clarke -- who was even young himself then -- to let a handful of teen prospects stick around after camp.

The Flyers went to the Stanley Cup finals before that magical 1984-85 season had ended.

	“	We have a European lineup. People are looking at us in that regard. I know the Flyers approached the game where they could take advantage of us physically and won. We have to respond to it. We have to learn to deal with it. ”
		— Mike Keenan, Panthers coach

"I guess you could say there are comparisons," said Keenan, smiling at the memory. "We had a lot of young guys who came together. But for the first couple of months we were around the .500 mark, and after the New Year … we were pretty good."

But Keenan pointed out this Florida team is, stylistically speaking, very different than that Flyers club: "What did we have in Philly, one guy from Europe?"

In the politically correct confines of Broward County, the ever-so slowly returning masses of Panthers fans have to cheer for a club with the most Europeans (14) on any NHL roster. And Keenan has to coach them the way he knows how, the way he has always known how.

Says Iron Mike, the sleek, lithe Panthers have to look "more North American on the ice." Otherwise, physically stifling games like the 5-2 loss last week against the Flyers might become more commonplace.

"We have a European lineup. People are looking at us in that regard," said Keenan. "I know the Flyers approached the game where they could take advantage of us physically and won. We have to respond to it. We have to learn to deal with it."

But of this fragile team still loose at the ends, Keenan remains hopeful. He's banking on the continued progress of players like the recently warm Viktor Kozlov, the currently injured Valeri Bure and the surprisingly consistent Jokinen (who already has established a career high in points).

A preseason favorite to be the first traded player of the season, Bure has been out with a hairline fracture of the wrist (courtesy of a Keith Primeau slash), but since he's possible for returning Wednesday, he might want to give Dudley a few more reasons to want to keep him.

Then there's Jokinen, whose two prior seasons in Florida were nothing to be seriously impressed by. But he's overcome his tendency for defensive lapses by becoming the Panthers' go-to man (17 goals).

"He's gotten a lot of attention because he deserves it," Keenan said of Jokinen. "He's being given the opportunity to play but he's responded to the opportunity and played well. And Viktor Kozlov has played exceptionally hard. He hasn't put up the numbers Jokinen has, but he's playing harder than I've ever seen him play. I think we're seeing the maturation of individuals on the team and the confidence they're building amongst themselves."

So where's it all going to lead? A .500 growing season? Quickly into the post-Christmas blues with other Southeast dreamers? A northerly swing and memorable climb into the playoffs?

Probably … could be … is this just a joke?

Rob Parent of the Delaware County (Pa.) Times is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.