In sports, there are perfect matches, and there are just bad fits. Call them what they are. 

Nathan Horton and the Florida Panthers were just a bad fit. 

"Nothing [changed] when I was there," Horton told WEEI.com recently. "It was tough. Some days were tough to go to the rink. Losing all the time is not fun." 

A highly touted prospect in the 2003 NHL draft, the Panthers traded from the top spot in the draft down to No. 3, confident that they could land a guy in Horton who could change a franchise the way past top picks had. 

Yet the only change the franchise saw was in the constant turnover of players, coaches and management. Horton proved his talents, scoring 31 goals in the 2006-07 season, but was a constant target by fans for his perceived lack of effort. 

Six seasons and zero playoff appearances might lead to that lack of effort, and not just with one guy. Horton admits that he did have his lulls, but with no light at the end of the tunnel, it would appear difficult for anyone to keep the pedal to the metal. 

"I tried not to take shifts off, but sometimes it was just hard to play [there]. It was tough, and obviously I'm not trying to take shifts off or anything, but people said that and it kind of stuck with me," Horton said. "I tried to get through it, but it wouldn't leave me."

MESSY FROM THE START

When Horton came into the league, he did so amidst an ugly power struggle between general manager Rick Dudley and head coach Mike Keenan in 2003-04. Dudley forced Keenan out after 15 games and took over himself for 40 games before eventually giving way to John Torchetti after 40 games. In total, the three coaches ended up taking turns steering the ship toward a measly 75-point season.

Amongst all the angst and discomfort of that season was a rookie named Nathan Horton. 

"I was coming into that, and it was just nonstop from there," Horton said. "So many different coaches, everything. … But I didn't know any different. That's just the way it went. A lot of changes, and a lot of different faces."

Horton would have two more coaches in his time with the Panthers: Jacques Martin (246), and Peter DeBoer (164 while Horton was there). Of the five coaches he played under, only Martin and DeBoer saw .500 winning percentages. None of them, of course, could lead the Panthers to the playoffs.

A BAD SIGN

Horton admitted that he was "looking for a change" by the time he was finally moved this offseason to the Bruins along with Gregory Campbell for Dennis Wideman and a pair of draft picks. That isn't to say he had always been seeking a way out of Florida. 

Horton actually signed two contracts with the Panthers following the expiration of his rookie deal. He re-signed for one year and $1.1 million after his first contract, and cashed in the following offseason with the six-year, $24 million pact he is currently on. 

So, when the time came in 2007 for him to choose where he would play the prime years of his career, why did he choose to stay in Florida? After all, it was in the 2006-07 season that Martin tried to put him in his place by sticking him on the fourth line in following a game against the Rangers in which his penalty minutes were the only thing that stood out. Why wouldn't he take the opportunity to get out of that situation? 

The Panthers sold Horton on staying by offering him yet another gallon of the Kool-Aid that he had been so used to consuming.

"Every year they said, 'It's going to get better and better,'" Horton said regarding why he felt confident at the time with staying in Florida. His numbers were looking up (a career-high 31 goals) and so, too, was the team's record (86 points, the best it had been since Horton had arrived). Horton optimistically signed on the dotted line.

Horton went on to play the first three years of the deal with the Panthers, but the upward trend came to a halt for the winger (he would not post another 30-goal season), and the team didn't get a crack at the postseason (they actually did tie the eighth-seeded Canadiens with 93 points in the 2008-09 campaign, but the Habs snuck in on the tie-breaker). The idea that things were getting drastically better didn't have much legs, and soon became more of a hollow promise than it was a sign of things to come. 

"Year after year it just kept being the same thing," Horton admitted. "There was all kinds of different people saying there was going to be change, but it just became the same."

THE REBIRTH OF A TOP PICK

"Underachiever" and "dog" were two words used to describe Horton in his Panther days, according to a Florida reporter who covered him. It may be surprising to the Florida media and fanbase that the Boston version of the player is the most outgoing, and -- to borrow a frequently used word by Horton -- "excited" person you'd meet.

But that's the way it's been. The truth is, the Boston media doesn't have much of a perspective on the change that Horton has undergone because, quite frankly, they haven't seen the "before" picture. He hasn't taken shifts off, and he hasn't dogged it. To Boston, Horton is simply a constantly grinning forward whose enthusiasm to be on the team may be even greater than his talent. 

"He looks rejuvenated, if I had a reference point of seeing him in Florida," Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said back in the pre-season. He also added that it might take a bit of time for Horton to adjust to playing in a bigger market, but that hasn't been the case. Playing against his old team, Horton had three assists and built his team-leading point total up to 18 in 17 games. 

At the time Horton was acquired, the natural line of thinking was that he would flourish playing on a line with Marc Savard setting him up. With Savard having yet to play a single game this season, Horton is still on pace to destroy his career high of 62 points, as he's on pace for 89. Horton attributes his success to his linemates, centers David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, and, of course, the man he so frequently calls "the ultimate hockey player" in Milan Lucic. 

After years of struggling to stay motivated on a team that's only sure thing each year was that the guys from last year -- coaches, players, whomever -- Horton finally has a home, and a place where he can count on helping a playoff team. 

While the winger was speaking with members of both the Boston and Florida media after the game, one Florida writer observed that Horton, who had many a frustrating moment as a Panther, clearly likes it in Boston.

"Yeah," Horton said with a grin. "I do."