NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

Gerard Gallant knows what it's like to engineer a quick turnaround.

The Montreal Canadiens hired him as an assistant coach in June 2012 after a season that saw the team finish 15th in the Eastern Conference and 28th in the NHL standings.

Working under Michel Therrien, Gallant helped lead Montreal to a first-place finish in the Northeast Division in 2012-13. Then the Canadiens made it to the Eastern Conference Final last season, sweeping the Tampa Bay Lightning and stunning the Presidents' Trophy-winning Boston Bruins in seven games before falling to the New York Rangers in six.

He's tasked with a similar mission with the Florida Panthers, this time as the 13th coach in franchise history and sixth since 2003-04. Only the Buffalo Sabres (52 points) finished lower in the League standings last season than the Panthers (29-45-8, 66 points). That sparked changes on the ice and behind the bench, where Gallant receives a second chance to lead an NHL team after going 56-76-6 with four ties in parts of three seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

Brian Gionta is eight years removed from scoring a career-high 48 goals, setting a single-season franchise record for the New Jersey Devils.

More recently, Gionta captained the Montreal Canadiens, leading the storied franchise within two wins of an appearance in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.

The offseason saw Gionta become an unrestricted free agent for the second time, and now the 35-year-old native of Rochester, N.Y., has come home to write the next chapter in his career with the Buffalo Sabres.

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

The Florida Panthers put on their hard hats this summer and went to work reconstructing a team that finished 29th in the overall standings. The Panthers signed six veterans on July 1; three (center Dave Bolland, defenseman Willie Mitchell, forward Shawn Thornton) have played on recent Stanley Cup-winning teams. Top-nine forward Jussi Jokinen and backup goalie Al Montoya also were added to a core that has three youngsters (Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau) on the cusp of stardom and a fourth, 2014 No. 1 draft pick Aaron Ekblad, with a chance to make the team at age 18.

The Panthers also have a new coach in Gerard Gallant, who is optimistic the franchise will return to prominence sooner than later, perhaps as soon as this season.

"We're going to work hard and get to know our players real well and put our game plan in place, and hopefully everything takes off from there," Gallant said. "We think we have a real good core here, and it's just a matter of getting off to a good start and getting confidence in our hockey players."

Here are three things that will have to happen for the Panthers' season to be successful:

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

BUFFALO -- The Buffalo Sabres had the worst season in franchise history in 2013-14, but there's hope that things will improve sooner rather than later.

The Sabres head into the 2014-15 season ready to grow for the future after a summer filled with changes. Numerous veteran additions give the Sabres a vaguely familiar look heading into a season that will provide a new set of challenges.

"Last year was a mess," forward Drew Stafford said. "With guys getting moved, getting out of the lineup, signing new guys, there were a lot of tryouts for spots it seemed even later on in the year or mix and matching the lineup quite a bit. … It's still going to be a challenge, it's still going to be a struggle at times, but definitely I expect it to be better than last year."

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

BUFFALO – Success can be hard to come by and it has different definitions depending on the point of view. For the Buffalo Sabres, a successful 2014-15 season may not be hard to create.

The Sabres made several veteran additions in the offseason. Forwards Brian Gionta, Matt Moulson and Cody McCormick joined the ranks, along with defenseman Andrej Meszaros, and defenseman Josh Gorges was added via trade with the Montreal Canadiens.

Things could be looking up in Buffalo.