Panthers on the Prowl

#1: Panthers @ Oilers: 8PM ET

Amerks Win Season Opener

Peters Traded to Vancouver, Staying with Amerks

Gudbranson Back to Kingston

Tampa Bay 2 | Florida 1 (OT)

Record Crowd for Panthers' Pre-Season Loss

Amerks Acquire Michael Nylander

Panthers Trim Roster by 8

Wednesday's Game Canceled Due to Tropical Storm

Back for the 2010-11 Season, I hope

Only a little bit..

Evgeni Dadonov and North America

Has Tanguay Signed with Florida?

Rochester Adds Two More

Panthers/Amerks Sign Graham Mink

Leopold in the Fold (One year, $1.75M)

Panthers Sign Clay Wilson

Free Agency Begins at Noon

Bouwmeester Signs with the Flames

Draft, Trades and Buyouts - Hooray?

George Richards: Maybe No Bouwmeester Trade

Bouwmeester Talk in Philadelphia

Former Panthers Coaching in Calgary

Reinprecht and Bouwmeester

NHL Awards 2009: No Masterton for Zednik

Comrie, Jenks Invited to the U.S. National Junior Camp

Whoops! Roenick Makes a Boo-Boo

Pierre Groulx Let Go by Team

Overdue Update: Brodeur, SPAC and More

Repik Drafted (What?)

Bad Timing: Jacques Martin Out

Nieuwendyk to be Named Stars GM

Panthers Development Camp Roster

Panthers Sign Alexander Salák

Gayduchenko Staying in Russia

2009-10 Training Camp: Nova Scotia

Jody Gage Out as Amerks GM

Sports Illustrated's Best and Worst NHL Owners

Do the Flyers Want to Trade?

2009 IIHF World Championship Finished

Panthers Talking to Lemaire

Marc Cheverie Named DU's '08-09 MVP

LaPoint's Recovery: "Way Ahead of Schedule"

Potvin Out, Lindsay In

Post-Season Blues

FS-Florida: Florida Panthers Post-Season Special

Dadonov Will Attend Development Camp in Florida

Richard Zednik Signs in Russia

Hockey's Future: Panthers' 2008-09 Rookie Review

USA, Latvia & Czech Republic Win

Panthers Merger Looming

All but Frolik Play

2009 IIHF World Championship

Frolik, Olesz to Play for the Czech Republic

Markström Will Play in Sweden Next Season

Peltonen, Dvorak and Skrastins Want to Stay

A Bittersweet Win for the Panthers

Duffy to the Everblades

Today's Press Conference

Panthers 1 | Flyers 2: Can Florida Still Get In? (Yes)

Tomorrow's Jacques Martin/Curt Stryes Press Conference

Karl Stewart Leaving Rochester, Amerks' Presser & More

Zednik Nominated for the Masterton

Plante Done + Brodeur Out = Beckford-Tseu? No.

Duffy's Hot Start, Contract in His Future?

Elitserien's Top Rookie: Hedman, + More

Duffy Debuts with Everblades

Panthers 3 | Leafs 1

Duffy to Rochester

#552 for Martin Brodeur and Florida's Fourth Straight Loss

College Hockey

College Update in the Morning

Olesz Back Tonight

Repik Recalled, Brynäs Out and Markström: Surgery?

Ellerby Back Up - Just in Case

Horton Out With Broken Finger

Fifth in the East

NCAA Playoff Time!

Panthers Lose, Markström Sits

Injuries, Eminger and Bouwmeester

Panthers Trade With Tampa

Trade Deadline 2009

Panthers 4 | Thrashers 3

Brynäs IF Set to Start Playoffs on Thursday

Keaton Ellerby Called Up

I'm back, apparently.

Panthers 6 | Capitals 2

New job, no internet.. Slow again.

Cheverie to Receive WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award

Panthers Shut Out Bruins

Brynäs, Amerks Win, 'Blades Lose

Beckford-Tseu to the Everblades

Brynäs Fighting for Their Playoff Lives

Panthers 4 | Devils 0

LaPoint Out for Season

Derrick LaPoint Suffers Gruesome Ankle Injury

Vokoun Shuts Out Carolina

Panthers to Open '09-10 Season in Helsinki

Amerks Beat Wolves 4-3

Rochester Wins, Out of Last Place

2010-10-10T18:13:00.000-04:00

Tonight's lines per George Richards:

Booth - Weiss - Frolik
Stillman - Matthias - Dvorak
Higgins - Santorelli - Olesz
Hordichuk - Reasoner - Bernier

Garrison - Weaver
McCabe - Kulikov
Allen - Wideman

Vokoun

Scratches: McArdle, Reinprecht
Injuries: Bitz

2010-10-10T17:57:00.000-04:00

The Amerks took on the Toronto Marlies on Saturday in Toronto to kick off the season and picked up a 4-2 win in goaltender Jacob Markström's North American regular season debut.

Markström, 20, faced 23 shots en route to his first AHL victory. Nathan Paetsch (now with Vancouver), Michael Nylander, Bill Thomas and Clay Wilson scored the four Amerks' goals but rookie defenseman Colby Robak notched a pair of assists - his first pro points - in the game.

Rochester is currently in the first intermission of their home opener against Hershey, although through one, the Bears have dominated play. The shots through one are 16-5. Through one, Markström has turned aside all 16 he's faced.

2010-10-06T17:28:00.001-04:00

Not long after clearing waivers, the Panthers announced that they had traded fighter Andrew Peters to the Vancouver Canucks for former Panthers enforcer Darcy Hordichuk.

The trade helps Vancouver with cap space by freeing up $775k, but it also shaves off close to three-quarters of a million dollars in actual payroll as Hordichuk is on a one-way contract. Since he wasn't going to make the Canucks roster - and he already cleared waivers - the Canucks would still have been on the hook for his salary had he been assigned to Manitoba. Why is this relevant to the Panthers?

Andrew Peters is on a two-way contract and Vancouver really doesn't need him, just like they no longer need Hordichuk. So they're much happier losing the cap hit and saving the money. As there was no real AHL plan for Hordichuk, there was no real AHL plan for Peters with Vancouver and thus, it looks like the Canucks will simply send Andrew Peters back to Rochester. So while this trade is far from groundbreaking, the two teams have helped each other out a bit. Florida takes Hordichuk off the Canucks' hands and in return, Vancouver keeps Peters in Rochester - a nice move, as Peters' living in Western New York probably played a major role in his signing with the Panthers.

2010-10-05T19:08:00.002-04:00

Photo by Noah Graham/NHLI via Getty Images

In a bit of a surprise turn of events, the Panthers and this summer's third overall pick, Erik Gudbranson, failed to reach an agreement before this evening's 5:00 PM deadline. As a result, Gudbranson will return to Kingston for another year in the OHL.

It looks like money was the hang-up, but in reality, few expect the Panthers to truly contend this season. Why waste the money on the extra bonuses, especially if you haven't much to go around? Florida saves a little here and when the season ends and contracts expire, they'll have more to work with in the next round of negotiations.

And depending on Erik's season, it could work out well for him in the long run.

There's also the realistic possibility that Gudbranson may have been returned to the OHL after a handful of games anyway so that his ELC could be preserved for next. No doubt that was an outcome the Cats considered, so while the return came sooner than they may have expected, the excess of defenders shows us that they were prepared for it.

Gudbranson's chances of being on Team Canada in the winter have just gone way up with this news, so the World Juniors will be an exciting time for Panthers fans.

2010-10-02T15:27:00.000-04:00

Associated Press

SUNRISE, Florida (AP) - Mike Lundin scored 3:21 into overtime, leading the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Florida Panthers 2-1 on Friday night.

Simon Gagne also scored for the Lightning, who improved to 3-1-1 this preseason and 12-3-3 over the last three years.

Jason Garrison had goal for Florida, which dropped its second consecutive game after winning its first three.
Goalie Mike Smith made 29 saves in his first start of the preseason for Tampa Bay breaking his finger during practice Sept. 20.

Tomas Vokoun stopped 40 shots for Florida. He helped the Panthers kill off eight Tampa Bay power plays. Florida is now 32 for 32 in penalty killing this preseason.

The teams meet Saturday night in Tampa in the preseason finale for both.

Florida was playing its first preseason game at home. The Panthers were scheduled to play host to Carolina on Wednesday night, but the game was canceled because of tropical storm Nicole.

Lundin's winner came while the teams were playing 3 on 3 following unsportsmanlike conduct penalties to Tampa Bay's Mathieu Roy and Florida's Cory Stillman.

Gagne scored his third goal of the preseason at 8:24 of the second period off a 2-on-1 with Vincent Lecavalier. Vokoun stopped Gagne's redirect of Lecavalier's pass, but Gagne's backhanded off the rebound trickled over his shoulder.

Garrison tied at 14:35 of the third period when he put his own rebound past Smith.

2010-10-02T15:22:00.001-04:00

According to Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, Friday night's 2-1 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning drew 11,688 fans to the BAC. To find the last time the Panthers had such a high pre-season turnout, you'd have to go back to the October 2, 2005 matchup, also against the Lightning, which drew 15,307.

2010-09-29T15:36:00.000-04:00

According to Kevin Oklobzija of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Florida Panthers have agreed to a loan deal with the Washington Capitals that will bring forward Michael Nylander back to North America to center the Amerks' top line.

As this appears to be a loan, Nylander otherwise has no affiliation with the Panthers. His contract remains Washington property, so the closest he will come to the Panthers is playing with their prospects in Rochester.

Nylander, 37, has been hampered by injuries for the past two years, specifically a torn rotator cuff. He suffered the injury against the Panthers, of all teams, in late 2007. He had surgery in early 2008 and missed the remainder of the season. He returned to the Capitals for the 2008-09 season, scoring nine goals and putting up 33 points in 72 games. The injury and subsequent production drop, combined with Nylander's $4.875M cap hit, led to his being waived by the Caps and eventually assigned to Grand Rapids in the AHL.

In 24 AHL games last season, Nylander put up 18 points (two goals) in addition to totals of 3-4-7 in 14 games with Jokerit of Finland's SM-liiga.

2010-09-28T22:17:00.000-04:00

The Panthers made a number of cuts over the past 24 hours, sending forwards Bill Thomas, Triston Grant and goalie Tyler Plante to Rochester prior to Monday night's game against the Canadiens. After the game, Scott Timmins, Michal Repik, Mike Duco and Evgeny Dadonov (all forwards) were reassigned.

Florida also returned 2010's 25th overall selection, Quinton Howden, to the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors.

2010-09-28T19:27:00.002-04:00

From www.panthers.nhl.com:

SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers announced today that their home preseason game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday, Sept. 29, has been canceled due to the threat of severe weather conditions associated with Tropical Storm Nicole.

“We felt that it was in the best interest and safety of our fans, our players and the Carolina Hurricanes to cancel Wednesday’s game due to the threat of the impending tropical storm,” said Florida Panthers Executive Vice President/General Manager Dale Tallon. “We look forward to seeing all our fans on Friday night when we host the Tampa Bay Lightning.”

If you have tickets for Wednesday's game, you can exchange them for seats at one of nine regular season games via the Panthers' website.

The nine games:

October 21st vs Dallas
November 3 vs Atlanta
December 7 vs Colorado
December 15 vs Carolina
January 5 vs Atlanta
January 13 vs Nashville
January 17 vs Atlanta
January 19 vs Columbus
February 8 vs St. Louis

2010-09-28T16:34:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I've posted on here, as work pretty much kept me hours behind when anything happened. But, I miss doing it so even if I'm behind, I'll still be able to keep up with prospect updates and such. If things get back to the way they were a couple of seasons ago, I'll probably move everything to a regular site and I'll try to make everything much simpler and much cleaner. But until then, we'll see if I keep this up.

Also stop spamming me, internet.

2009-07-29T09:20:00.002-04:00

George Richards wrote late last night that the sale of the team to SPAC was not only not dead, but could possibly be announced - maybe as early as today.

The NHL's Board of Governors is meeting today in Chicago and this sale is apparently on the agenda.

Should a sale go through, it is entirely possible that the Panthers could see someone other than Sexton taking over as general manager and that could explain why it has taken such a long time to make a hire at an otherwise rather important time of the off-season.

2009-07-16T18:07:00.007-04:00

While we wait for news on a now-refuted Tanguay-to-the-Panthers rumour, there's a little bit of a development with the NHL/KHL contract situations affecting a couple of players, most notably, Detroit's Jiri Hudler - but the one most concerning the Panthers: Evgeni Dadonov.

The main piece in this is of course Detroit's Jiri Hudler signing over in the KHL for next season. Players make the jump quite often these days, but Hudler is a restricted free agent that had filed for salary arbitration prior to signing.

It was then contested by the league that Hudler, in filing for arbitration, had committed to the NHL as a ruling would then essentially put Detroit in the driver's seat for a moment: either accept the contract awarded or walk away and lose Hudler entirely as an unrestricted free agent allowing him the freedom to sign wherever he wants.

So this brings us to today: KHL president Alexander Medvedev agreed that the league will not process Hudler's contract until his arbitration hearing is settled, in keeping with the "gentleman's agreement" in place between the two leagues.

Medvedev went on to cite the Atlanta Thrashers' retraction of a contract offered to Joel Kwiatkowski recently, as Kiwi, a former Panther, was still under contract with Cherepovets in the Continental League.

So, does this bode well for those of us hoping to see Evgeni Dadonov make the switch to North America this season?

It's still quite possible. If the rumours are true and Dadonov has indeed signed with the Panthers, there's not really anything that the KHL can do to stop it. But, they can create a big fuss over the issue and one has to wonder if Florida would then back down.

The KHL wants to protect its assets and Dadonov is a good one. If he chooses to abandon the Russian contract, sanctions would fly and there would undoubtedly be some bitterness (again) between the two leagues. But then, perhaps in such a situation, the league would simply agree to negotiate compensation to release Dadonov from his contract and let the issue die.

2009-07-16T15:56:00.003-04:00

According to Eklund (yes, yes, I know), it's not only a rumor but a confirmation (e5) that Tanguay has signed a contract with the Panthers.

There is no news elsewhere yet that I have seen, but keep an eye out. He was right on Koistinen and he was on with Tallon, so it.. might.. be possible..?

4:30 PM: Panthers interim GM Randy Sexton has told Steve Gorten of the Sun-Sentinel that the reports are 'false'

Meanwhile, Tanguay is listed at the NHLPA website as a member of the Montreal Canadiens again next season, set to earn $5.375M. I guess we'll see soon enough.

2009-07-16T10:12:00.002-04:00

The Panthers signed center Jamie Johnson yesterday to a one-year deal, while the Amerks have brought a favored face to Rochester for two years, themselves.

For Florida, Johnson's signing points largely towards the AHL, but two seasons back, he was one of the better players on the Albany River Rats, scoring 20+ and just under 60 points before heading to Finland to play with TPS for a season. TPS, of course, being the team from which we plucked Alexander Salak. In a shortened 42 game season in Finland, Johnson scored eight goals and a total of 28 points.

Like most of the signings this off-season, Johnson will probably have a chance at the NHL out of camp, as Florida is still a few players short.

Up in Rochester, however, Chris Taylor returns to a team where he played for seven years, scoring above a point per game in his career with the Amerks (369 in 367), good enough for eighth on the club's all time list.

Taylor spent the past three seasons in Germany and led the Frankfurt Lions in scoring in all three, so at worst? Rochester has added a face to the team once again, and a face that at worst, can still put up some points.

But most importantly, they've added a true leader and a player that can provide a hugely positive influene on Panthers' prospects.

And what's more, they might not yet be finished.

2009-07-11T00:47:00.003-04:00

The Panthers, staying true to their word that they are committed to building a winner in Rochester to help their prospects develop, today announced that the club has signed AHL veteran Graham Mink to a two-year deal.

While all of the signings will likely have at least an itty-bitty chance to make the NHL roster this fall, this looks to be the third pickup that the team has made for Rochester: Jeff Taffe and Clay Wilson being the other two.

Florida signed Ville Koistinen several days ago (I know, I'm behind) and acting GM Randy Sexton would neither confirm nor deny a rumor that the club is interested in Alex Tanguay.

The Cats have been operating with self-imposed caps and we don't really know what it is this season, but they probably aren't there yet (the payroll is pretty low compared to the averaged cap hit), though many of the options are dwindling in free agency as we press on through the second week of July.

Among the players that are off the market now are former Panthers that have moved on to new clubs; first, Tanner Glass signed a deal with the Vancouver Canucks and today, Anthony Stewart signed a one-year contract that will take him to Atlanta.

Also, I've been trying to tweak some settings on the template, so some things might look different (or bad).

2009-07-02T18:15:00.003-04:00

I don't know which is better. My rhyming skills or that we signed a much-needed defenseman.

Really though, I know it's the skills.

The contract is, according to TSN, for $1.75M. Not bad at all. That puts the Panthers around $49M against the cap, although the reality is that it's a little bit lower. Team payroll is closer to $44M.

If you don't factor in the Amerks as possible roster players next season, Florida has eleven forwards and now five contracted defensemen and two goaltenders, so they are presumably not yet finished.

2009-07-02T16:17:00.002-04:00

The Panthers have signed defenseman Clay Wilson to a two-year deal, per the Panthers' twitter. This is a Rochester-based move, though Wilson probably can be a sufficient emergency call-up (right now, he might fit in on the Cats top six, but I digress, I've made myself sad).

Wilson played for four different teams last year (Columbus and Atlanta in the NHL and their affiliates, Syracuse and Chicago in the AHL), but the vast majority of his season was in the AHL.

In seven NHL games (total) he had an assist, and in 70 AHL games, he had 45 points (14 goals).

So this looks like a good signing for the Amerks, especially if the Panthers don't snatch up some more defense. You have to think we're going to get someone else, though. The Panthers roster isn't even up to twenty, yet.

2009-07-01T10:03:00.004-04:00

And I have to leave for work in fifteen minutes. That sucks.

But since I won't be able to follow the news of the day (until three or so, so at least I'll be home relatively early?), you'll have to do it for me and I'll be there in spirit geeking out over the joys of July 1, which happens to be Canada Day as well. So happy Canada Day, Canada.

Aside from George Richards and Steve Gorten, look to Litter Box Cats for the best Panther fan blog online - it looks like he'll be around all day long, so if you miss something, you'll probably catch it there.

And by there, I mean here: www.litterboxcats.com

Then there's Twitter. Whether you love it or you hate it (personally, I hate it but I can't stop using it for hockey news) has become the place to get these big deals as they break and before TSN and other major outlets can confirm them. So of course, some of it is a load.

Since the draft, a couple have stood out to be pretty reliable and so you may want to check these (or just get a TweetDeck thing, so far it's made it easier for me to continue ignoring Twitter unless something useful happens) and throw them all in there:

Kevin Allen (USA Today)
Darren Dreger (TSN)

For Panthers specifically:

Florida Panthers
On Frozen Pond
Rochester Americans
Let's Go Amerks

There will definitely be some news today with the Amerks because there's a press conference today to announce the new VP of hockey ops up north. Possibly NOT Jody Gage.

Hey, look. While I was typing, the Tweet Deck made a noise and updated with a new Twitter thing from Let's Go Amerks: Ted Nolan the new VP of hockey operations. So there's that. Keep your eyes on that, sh--tuff gets real at 1 PM.

Then I think there's ESPN's Pierre LeBrun who has been pretty solid. This is his blog at ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=lebrun_pierre

So there you have it. Have fun for me.

2009-06-30T21:11:00.003-04:00

Tonight, Jay Bouwmeester made the trading of a third round pick worth Calgary's while by signing a five year contract worth $6.6M against the cap per season for the Flames.

Meanwhile, the Cats are still trying to turn Jordan Leopold's rights in to a contract signing of their own, and have yet to extend David Booth's contract.

In other words, Booth can receive offer sheets in a little over twelve hours.

2009-06-30T08:26:00.004-04:00

I was in Tampa for a few days, so I missed most of the draft and everything else that Sexton has been doing recently, but while you likely already know, to recap:

Florida traded Jay Bouwmeester to Calgary for Jordan Leopold and a third

Leopold is, like Bouwmeester, a UFA. His agent, however, says that they are open to signing here and the Panthers are no doubt working on this.

Draft:

Round 1 (14th overall): Dmitry Kulikov (Drummondville, QMJHL)
6'1", 195
Defense

The shortest way to describe Kulikov is that he is simply a complete defenseman. Be it puck movement, skating ability or just defensive awareness, Kulikov has all of these things and he executes well. He had 62 points in 57 games with Drummondville of the QMJHL and in the process was named the QMJHL's Rookie of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year, Best Professional Prospect and Defenseman of the Year. His contract status and the ever-lingering uncertainty of Russian players had a hand in his falling to the Panthers, and even if you were hoping for a different player, Kulikov was almost certainly the best player available - and he has an outside shot at cracking the Panthers roster as early as this coming season.

Round 2 (44th overall): Drew Shore (USNDP)
6'3", 190
Center

Over the past decade, the United States' National Development Program has produced quite a few NHLers and more recently, some of the best American prospects in the league. Shore was a borderline first round pick in some mock drafts and his size and skill should have the Panthers excited about his development. On the ice, Shore says he models his game after Joe Thornton. Both are big centermen and both are playmakers above all else. In Drew Shore, the Panthers have an American center with top six upside that plays offense first. Fortunately, he won't avoid going back to help out if he needs to. Shore, a native of Colorado, is headed to Denver in the fall and will be playing with two other Panthers prospects in Marc Cheverie and John Lee.

Round 3 (67th overall): Josh Birkholz (Fargo Force, USHL)
6'1", 182
Right Wing

The Panthers picked from the United States Hockey League with their third selection and this time chose a right wing from Minnesota. Like Shore, Birkholz is committed to his home college and will be moving to the University of Minnesota in the coming months. At present, Birkholz's skating is his strongest element while consistency is his weak point. He has been spending his mornings working out with former Gopher Keith Ballard, and hopes to move through the ranks quickly to get to the NHL (but really, who doesn't?).

Round 4 (107th overall): Garret Wilson (Owen Sound Attack, OHL)
6'2", 199
Left Wing

Wilson has good size for a left wing and that's a welcome attribute for a player that his coach in Owen Sound says has a good nose for the net. But despite his size, strength appears to be one of his weak points, although that is nothing that can't be improved. Similarly, his skating stride is not without its flaws, but like strength, this is something on which Wilson can work. It seems, though, that Florida is getting a defensively responsible center that at worst can be a sound penalty killer, and that's not too shabby. Wilson was suspended for 15 games after a slew foot penalty which resulted in Kitchener Rangers forward Dan Kelly suffering a broken ankle. In watching a replay (don't worry, you can't really see anything break.. and more importantly, if you watch, don't close it after the first replay because it looks like very malicious, however, the second angle clearly shows that there was no penalty), there was no slew foot and Kellywas run in to cleanly, losing his footing from a clean hit. By the time Wilson's skate was underneath, the Ranger was already crashing in to the boards. But, the point remains the same. Florida's got another solid prospect here that could someday be a valuable role player on the Panthers.

Round 5 (135th overall): Corban Knight (Okotoks, AJHL)
6'1", 180
Center

Corban Knight played this season as a rookie in the Alberta Junior league and finished in the top ten for overall league scoring while leading all rookies with 72 points in 61 games. He elevated his game in the playoffs and despite being eliminated in the second round, Knight was still third in playoff goals (10) when all was said and done. Another college bound player, Knight will be attending the University of North Dakota - but not this fall, rather the fall of 2010. That means there's another year in Alberta to be had. But to a fan, what made Corban Knight stand out in spite of the limited scouting detail and video has to be his performance at the NHL's draft combine. Knight showed impressive overall athletic ability, ranking third in VO2 max testing, second in pushups and fourth in upper body power with a 4kg ball.

Round 5 (138th overall): Wade Megan
6'1", 185
Center

A low ranked American high-schooler, the Panthers took Megan after interviewing him earlier in the morning. Megan's goals and assists both improved, and in fewer games, this season. Add to that Megan is committed to reigning NCAA champion Boston University for this coming fall and it's a nice late round pick to take.

Round 6 (165th overall): Scott Timmins
6'0", 193
Center

Last, but not least, the Panthers took former Kitchener Ranger Scott Timmins. Timmins turns 20 in September and will be eligible for the AHL this season. And he knows how to win. Timmins was on the Kitchener Rangers when they won the Memorial Cup two years ago (under Peter DeBoer, no less) and this season, played for the Cup winning Windsor Spitfires after being traded mid-season.

What else?

The Panthers tendered qualifying offers to only two of their restricted free agents: David Booth and David Brine. That means Steve Eminger, Anthony Stewart, Tanner Glass, Drew Larman, David Shantz and Franklin MacDonald will become unrestricted free agents.

The case for Eminger was most definitely money. When he got to Tampa, he became a fixture on their defense and logged high minutes and played in all situations. He was supposedly seeking a nearly $3M deal so the Lightning bit the bullet and made a trade, because they knew he would likely be able to get something similar through arbitration. And that's where the Panthers now find themselves. Eminger, if qualified, could take the Cats to arbitration, but by not qualifying him, Florida has taken away that element of the negotiations. If the price comes down, Florida would be silly to not want to bring the defenseman back. But if he holds out for more money, Florida will have no choice but to pass.

With all of these players, returning is not out of the question, though for some, it seems unlikely they would be brought back. A few, however, could still be brought back depending on the market.

Which leaves us with the most recent move (and one that was foreshadowed by the acquisition of Steve Reinprecht): Brett McLean being placed on unconditional waivers.

This is the typical start to a contract buyout, so it looks like McLean's time with the Panthers is done.

2009-06-26T17:36:00.002-04:00

From On Frozen Pond:

MONTREAL -- The newest rumor I am hearing is that Jay Bouwmeester has become all but untradeable, his agent again telling prospective employers that Jay will not sign with anyone until he hits the open market on July 1.

If this is true, this is a major buzzkill for Panthers fans today. Wasn't expecting much, but I can't say I was expecting nothing.

2009-06-25T09:31:00.003-04:00

Well, perhaps this is not ideal for the Panthers.

According to Philly.com (article link is in the title), the UFA-to-be defenseman is unwilling to talk contract with any club before free agency hits:

The Flyers seem to have run into a roadblock with Bouwmeester, who appears content to wait until the free-agent period starts Wednesday before he talks to teams.

Before the start of the free-agent period, a player can tell his team - in Bouwmeester's case, Florida - he is willing to talk with a team that is interested in acquiring his rights.

Bouwmeester has not given the Flyers permission to talk with him and see if he would sign for X amount of dollars before they made a deal for him.

He apparently hasn't given any team permission, an NHL source said.

"My gut sense is that they can't get him to agree to talk to anybody now," said a Flyers official who asked to remain anonymous. "That's the wrinkle."

The draft begins tomorrow night. Right now, a Bouwmeester trade return is anybody's guess.

2009-06-25T08:50:00.003-04:00

If you've been a Panthers fan since the beginning, you know Dave Lowry and you may know that he coached in the WHL last season leading the Calgary Hitmen to a 59-9-3-1 record and an appearance in the WHL championship.

Now, he's moved back to the Flames, the team on which he finished his career, as an assistant coach. And if you remember Jamie McLennan, he's done the same. McLennan, who built up quite a reputation for being a great player in the room and a good relationship with his starters, is the new goaltending coach for the Flames after serving as a scout for the club last season.

That's all for now. Just thought that was pretty cool.

2009-06-22T17:01:00.003-04:00

Well, by now you probably know that the Panthers traded Stefan Meyer to Phoenix for Steven Reinprecht, and subsequently signed Reinprecht (or Reino [Reino]; whichever you prefer) to a three year contract with $2.05M per season.

Meyer was a restricted free agent, but it seems as though the Panthers weren't going to tender a qualifying offer to the 23 year old, so he was sent packing. Reinprecht was to become an unrestricted free agent, so Florida got the beat early and picked up a player that they had apparently been targeting and that was hyped up a good deal by former teammate Keith Ballard.

Also of note, no mention of Nick Boynton talking about Reinprecht. At least not when I first read about it. So if you were looking for even more reason to suspect that Boynton will not return next season, there you go.

That's a pretty lame assessment, you say? Yeah. It is.

The acquisition of Reinprecht gives the Panthers the ability to move Horton back to wing regardless of any other moves that they may or may not make, while bumping Stephen Weiss to the top line permanently and then allowing Greg Campbell, Kamil Kreps and Brett McLean to slot in somewhere as needed. Or, more likely, to be traded. At least one of them, anyway. Unfortunate, but likely a necessary move (especially if McLean can fetch a draft pick, as his struggles this past season, coupled with a $1.7M cap hit should make him the most available of the bunch).

****

Speaking of availability, there's always (non) news about Jay Bouwmeester.

Kevin Allen of USA Today says, "To talk to Bouwmeester before July 1, Florida Panthers want a draft pick, which would become a 1st rounder if he signs."

I guess that's not all that surprising. But there it is anyway.

2009-06-19T09:25:00.003-04:00

The NHL Awards show was last night and the player Panthers fans were hoping to see win an award wound up disappointed as the Masterton was awarded to Steve Sullivan.

But, Sullivan most definitely earned the award. And, not to belittle what Richard Zednik did, Sullivan missed a full season and spent months rehabbing to come back from multiple back surgeries and an injury that impacted his daily life for some time. Either player could have made a case for the award (and so too could Chelios, but not so much as Sullivan or Zednik) and I'm not let down in the least. If what Sullivan went through to get back to the NHL isn't perserverance and dedication to the game of hockey, I'm not sure what is.

If you run through the winners, only a few seem to be surprising (like Mike Richards losing out to Pavel Datsyuk for the Selke, despite receiving more first place votes).

Hart: Alexander Ovechkin
Norris: Zdeno Chara
Vezina: Tim Thomas
Jack Adams: Claude Julien
Calder: Steve Mason
Lady Byng: Pavel Datsyuk
Selke: Pavel Datsyuk
Lester B. Pearson: Alexander Ovechkin
Art Ross: Evgeni Malkin
Maurice "Rocket" Richard: Alexander Ovechkin
William Jennings: Tim Thomas/Manny Fernandez

For the awards determined by votes, no Panther had any impressive showing in the final numbers, but a couple did still receive a handful of votes in a few categories:

In the parentheses that follow the points awarded through voting, you'll see the number of first place through fifth place votes received for each Panthers player.

Norris: Jay Bouwmeester - 9 (0-0-1-0-4)
Vezina: Tomas Vokoun - 1 (0-0-1)
Jack Adams: Peter DeBoer - 3 (0-1-0)
Calder: Michael Frolik - 12 (0-1-1-0-0)
Lady Byng: Stephen Weiss - 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
Lady Byng: Richard Zednik - 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
Lady Byng: Cory Stillman - 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Selke: Stephen Weiss - 1 (0-0-0-0-1)

For the 2008-2009 NHL All-Star Team voting, Jay Bouwmeester came in fifteenth for defensemen with seven points, all third place votes. Tomas Vokoun was tenth for goaltenders, picking up six points with a pair of second place votes.

That's it for now, though. I have to go to work.

2009-06-15T16:55:00.003-04:00

Panthers' prospects Adam Comrie and A.J. Jenks are among the 43 players invited to the United States World Junior camp.

Comrie had nine goals and thirty points in 50 games with the Saginaw Spirit (OHL) this past season and was a third round choice of the Panthers last summer. He also managed a pair of assists in eight playoff games this season.

Jenks was taken in the fourth round by the Panthers last summer and in 61 games with the Plymouth Whalers (OHL), he scored 21 goals and amassed a total of 52 points. The Whalers made the playoffs as well, and Jenks had three points in eleven games.

As an aside, there's a local kid on the list. In looking at his numbers, they were very modest until he was traded this season from the Windsor Spitfires to the Erie Otters. With Erie, his production exploded and he scored 17 goals and 17 assists in 35 games. His name is Andrew Yogan and he's from Boca Raton. He isn't draft eligible this season, but the Panthers have their eye on him, and they may not be the only ones.

2009-06-11T15:27:00.005-04:00

San Jose Sharks' center Jeremy Roenick made an appearance on ESPN Radio 1100 in Las Vegas recently and when steroids in baseball came up, Roenick was of course asked to comment on its prevalence in hockey.

As you've noticed, I pretty much never write about something that doesn't in some way, shape or form involve the Panthers.

And that will continue.

I'm copying the quote directly from Puck Daddy at Yahoo Sports, so here's what Jeremy had to say:

"[Hockey has] never had a problem. Our League is squeaky clean. We had one guy that tested positive that was Bryan McCabe, but he was taking a steroid because he was blind in one eye, and the doctors were giving him some kind of aid to help him see a little bit out of his eye. And the other guy was the goaltender who put Propecia in his hair ... so he'd look better for the ladies."

Bryan McCabe? D'oh! Bryan Berard is the player that Roenick meant, not Panthers' defenseman Bryan McCabe - and Berard was banned for two years by the IIHF for his failed test.

Incidentally, Roenick forgot about former Panthers' defenseman Sean Hill. Hill, of course, was the first NHLer to be suspended under a then-new-league testing program back in 2007. At the time, Hill was playing for the New York Islanders and at the time, the Islanders were mere hours from an elimination game. They went on to lose the game and their season ended.

2009-06-08T18:17:00.003-04:00

The Panthers chose not to renew their contract with goalie coach Pierre Groulx today, apparently opting to set their sights on a part-time coach.

Coach Pete DeBoer claims this was his decision, as the Red Wings only have a part-time guy and they can't find a way to justify having Groulx work full time. So, is money a motivation? Probably doesn't help.

Could add some fuel to the fire that Al Strachan claims will see the proposed SPAC sale fall through, though. If Cohen has to keep the team, he might only want a "part-time guy" so that he doesn't have to pay as much.

But, what seems more realistic is that DeBoer simply made this decision since he didn't have enough work to justify keeping Groulx on board full time. He said that he had never worked with a full-time goalie coach. Groulx had a contract when DeBoer climbed aboard and only Charron was let go. Groulx coached out his contract and it appears that's all this will be. No harm, no foul. Now, DeBoer can find a good "consultant" that he's interested in, so this move could be good for the team down the road.

And hey, Montreal's looking for a goalie coach. Maybe Groulx will team up with Martin again.

Andy O'Brien, the strength and conditioning coach has left the team as well. Apparently leaving on his own to accept a position outside the NHL.

2009-06-08T17:05:00.006-04:00

Work has me burned out when I get home lately, but I'm trying to get back in to this because I enjoy it.

So there's a lot that has happened - ownership rumors, GM speculation and some personnel news (albeit minor).

First up is a rumor from Al Strachan that the potential sale of the Panthers to Sports Properties Acquisition Corp. has fallen, or is about to fall through. No one else has reported anything similar, and Strachan's reliability is somewhere around that of paying my cat (she's not the smartest of cats, mind you) to file your tax return online.

All indications thus far would be that this sale is still being pursued, so until we hear otherwise, I'm going to hold on to hope that it happens - and that it turns out to be a good thing. But really, aren't we all hoping for that?

****

Mike Brodeur, who basically singlehandedly turned Rochester around from being the undisputed worst team in the league to being "one of the worst", has rejected a Panthers offer. Brodeur won't be back, but don't worry about the Cats lowballing Brodeur. The Democrat and Chroncile reports that it was simply an offer Brodeur rejected because he believes he has better opportunity to play in the NHL with the Senators. And he may be right; the Sens have Alex Auld, Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire in goal.

Marc Cheverie and Brian Foster are presumably returning to college and Jacob Markström is still under contract in Sweden, so I would imagine that makes Alexander Salak the Amerks' goaltender for the time being, along with Tyler Plante and then maybe Shantz or Beckford-Tseu rounding things out.

These are all good things: Shantz and Plante have had their struggles at the pro level thus far, but the Panthers still have a good deal of confidence in Tyler Plante's future. The expecations for Shantz likely aren't as high. But Cheverie and Foster have been very good in college, and as posted at LetsGoAmerks.com, both looked good at the development camp - and then Salak and Markström get thrown in and the Panthers have some real opportunity to develop some true goaltending talent as opposed to acquiring it via trade. The future between the pipes should be exciting to watch it unfold.

****

That leaves the GM search. News making the rounds is that former Panthers GM Rick Dudley (2002-2004; fired) had boarded a plane in Buffalo en route to South Florida the other day, but the interviewing process has already begun and, according to team president Michael Yormark, Bill Torrey has received nearly 100 inquiries for the position. So Dudley, having previous experience with the team may simply have been flown in for an interview given his knowledge of the roster. Or maybe he was just on vacation.

And then there's Jacques Lemaire. If you remember the rumor a few weeks back that Lemaire was seeking a consultant's position with the Panthers or Lightning (he lives on the west coast of Florida), this news could be interesting to you.

According to the St. Pete Times, Lemaire has rejected the Lightning's offer to become a senior consultant - on good terms. Reportedly, Lemaire "has another offer that has gained his interest and which he is pursuing."

When Jacques Martin was hired to coach the Canadiens, however, speculation swirled that Lemaire would join his former team soon after. That very well may be the case as Lemaire played with Montreal , winning the Stanley Cup EIGHT times. But, for the sake of pure speculation, Jacques Martin was still with the Panthers when the report came out some weeks ago of Lemaire's interest. Now, Florida needs a general manager. Now, Lemaire may be much more interested in a job close to home.

7:13 Edit: RDS (English translation) is now reporting that Lemaire is indeed talking with the Panthers about the GM position.

2009-06-01T22:02:00.004-04:00

The KHL held its inaugural draft today, and Florida Panthers' prospect Michal Repik was selected in the second round, twenty-seventh overall by Sibir.

That shouldn't be any cause for alarm, however, as Repik has expressed an abundance of interest and desire to play in the NHL. He's almost there now, and the penalties for contract jumpers are going to be much harsher now that the IIHF has written new rules to prevent future Radulov situations.

Really, the KHL's draft is one that the Russians hope can keep their talented young players home. While the NHL drafts 18 year olds, the KHL has a minimum age of 17 - which means Taylor Hall, the prospect many think can go first overall in 2010 in the NHL, was eligible. And of course, he was drafted by a KHL club.

So too was Victor Hedman.

There will always be players that can be wooed by money, or want to pass on junior hockey or the AHL or college - and there are players that will always want to play closer to home - so the draft might cost the NHL some players, but that it keeps many away, or keeps the next Ovechkin or Malkin out of the NHL is quite a longshot. At least in the immediate future.

But as far as the selection of Repik goes, I don't imagine there's anything to worry about. His draft rights will remain with Sibir until he is 28 years old, or his rights are traded or released. For the time being, however, Repik looks to be a leading candidate to be promoted from the AHL to the NHL this coming season.

2009-06-01T20:52:00.003-04:00

So, I'm a few hours late. I had to work today, but I saw this rumor early this morning and heard that it was true a couple hours later.

With Martin out, assistant GM Randy Sexton will take over in the interim and move the team forward as the draft and free agency approaches.

In the meantime, Bill Torrey will be searching for the Florida Panthers next general manager.

According to Michael Yormark, the Panthers were contacted a little over a week ago and team owner Alan Cohen then spoke to Martin about the Canadiens' interest. He gave the Habs permission to speak with Martin - JM loves coaching, and it's clear that his heart is still behind the bench - and last night, Jacques accepted the Canadiens' offer and was released by the Panthers to become the next head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

What's surprising is that quotes surfaced soon after from the agents of both David Booth and Jay Bouwmeester, stating that the two had not yet had any contact with Martin. With the latter, that's no shocker. His agent, Byron Baltimore, said, "Probably not," when asked whether Bouwmeester would reach an agreement in Florida before walking away. Booth, on the other hand, says he loves it here and that he wants to stay here. Since then, it's come out that Randy Sexton has contacted his pending free agents, saying there's a plan in place and that it will be followed as best they can.

The options that exist for the new GM are many, but just how likely some are remains to be seen.

Jack Birch: Birch is currently the director of player personnel with the Panthers, having been with the team for five years. This past season was his first with the new title, however, having worked as a pro scout and director of hockey operations in previous seasons. He's been responsible for overseeing the team in Rochester this past season.

Rick Dudley: Apparently, Dudley wants to finish what he started here in Florida. He was the Panthers' general manager from 2002 to 2004, eventually handling the coaching duties as well, and is currently an assistant general manager with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Jay Feaster: Feaster helped the Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2004, but whether the connection is irrelevant or not, some of Feaster's time with the Lightning coincided with current Panthers' president Michael Yormark's tenure as Tampa's Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer.

John Ferguson, Jr.: Toronto's former general manager is currently working with the San Jose Sharks as a scout.

Les Jackson: Along with Brett Hull, Jackson is now a former co-general manager of the Dallas Stars (as of today).

Mike Keenan: If at first, you don't succeed - or the second time - why not hire him a third time and try again? But really, Keenan was recently relieved of his duties in Calgary after being reunited with Olli Jokinen and is once again out of work. Yet the same logic that tells you, "It didn't work out the first two times, so we won't go with Keenan," could also imply: "Cohen must like the guy to have given him another shot after he was fired the first time around. Maybe he'll do it again now that he's available. Again."

Jacques Lemaire: Lemaire was rumored to have an interest in working with an east coast team, and more specific to the rumors, either the Lightning or the Panthers. At the time, Martin was still in the front office and the position rumored was as a consultant. Lemaire lives on the west coast of Florida, so if there was truth to the rumor before, Lemaire may be more inclined to fancy a particular Eastern team now that one needs a new GM.

Doug MacLean: You remember MacLean, most likely. He's been with the Panthers before, coaching them to the Stanley Cup final during the 1995-96 season. But Bill Torrey fired MacLean two years later, and since then, MacLean saw a stint as GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets (their first in team history) end with another firing. The Jackets never posted a winning record with any of MacLean's teams, having finally made the playoffs for the first time ever two years after his departure.

Pierre McGuire: McGuire's name surfaced during the Minnesota Wild's hunt for a new general manager this summer. He's never served in a GM capacity and has only coached briefly in the league (head coach of the Whalers and assistant coach of the Penguins). But McGuire's been one of Florida's biggest cheerleaders this season, praising them and their new direction quite often whenever the opportunity arose. Much like hiring DeBoer to be the coach, McGuire would be an out-of-the-box move, but he's got exceptional hockey knowledge and an infectious (if not at times annoying in its presentation) enthusiasm for the game of hockey. Putting the two together would be a dramatic culture shock to the Panthers we've known for so long.

Mike Milbury: Milbury was the general manager of the New York Islanders for a spell, trading Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen to the Panthers for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha. He passed on Dany Heatley to select Rick DiPietro, and he traded Zdeno Chara, the second overall in 2001 (Jason Spezza) and Bill Muckalt to the Senators for Alexei Yashin. Not one of his better days. Nor was trading Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi and a third for Trevor Linden - in the mid-90s, when both McCabe and Bertuzzi were still under 22 years old.

Denis Potvin: Potvin was just released from his position as a TV analyst for the Panthers - a position that he held from the very beginning. But Bill Torrey is heading this search, and if he feels Potvin could be the right man for the job, one has to think he'd approach him. After all, they have a bit of a history together: Torrey drafted Potvin in 1973, then turned down a major trade offer from Montreal in order to keep Potvin as an anchor for his franchise long-term. Along with Potvin, Torrey had been with the Panthers from the very beginning.

Randy Sexton: Sexton's currently the assistant GM of the Panthers and he's been here since the beginning of the 2007 calendar year. Prior to joining the Panthers, Sexton helped mold the Ottawa Senators over eight years and was responsible for drafting Daniel Alfredsson and Pavol Demitra, to name a few.

Neil Smith: Smith took over a talented Rangers team and made them even better, drafting guys like Kovalev and Weight in to the league and added Adam Graves, Jeff Beukeboom and Esa Tikkanen to the team - and most notably - traded for Mark Messier. Messier would go on to lead the Rangers to the Cup with his famous promise. Smith signed Wayne Gretzky near the end of his career, and then left the Rangers soon after. He was more recently GM of the Islanders, briefly, and said at the time, "Knowing that I'll be working in the same office where one of my mentors, Bill Torrey, created a dynasty is an unbelievable feeling." Torrey, of course, will be doing the interviews - so Smith might be interested.

The list could go on, with names like Scott Mellanby (now a scout), Doug Risebrough, Dave Nonis and maybe even Scott Luce, but the short answer is that there are many possibilities out there.

The timing, however, couldn't be worse.

2009-05-31T17:14:00.002-04:00

Former Panther Joe Nieuwendyk will be named general manager of the Dallas Stars during a press conference tomorrow.

From TSN --

The 42-year-old Nieuwendyk returns to the city of Dallas from the Toronto Maple Leafs' organization, where he had been serving as Special Assistant to the General Manager.

"I am very excited about returning to the Dallas Stars as General Manager," said Nieuwendyk. "I am ready for this opportunity. The Dallas Stars have built a winning tradition over the years and I want to help continue that legacy. My family is very excited about returning to Dallas. I have great memories from my playing days with the Stars and look forward to helping this team win as General Manager."

As part of the reshuffling process, co-GMs Brett Hull and Les Jackson have both been reassigned within the organization. Hull will be moving to the roles of Executive Vice President and Alternative Governor, while Jackson is returning to his role as Director of Scouting and Player Development. Hicks said it was in the team's best interest to return the pair to their "respective strengths".

"We are very excited to secure Joe Nieuwendyk as the General Manager," said Hicks. "These moves are all about helping this club take the proverbial 'next step.' Joe is a leader and has been a winner in everything he has done. He is ready for this opportunity and has a bright future as an NHL General Manager. We want that future to be with the Dallas Stars."

Niewendyk has become familiar with management roles recently. Prior to spending last season with the Leafs' club, he worked as a Special Consultant to the GM with the Florida Panthers and as Assistant GM with the silver medal-winning Canadian team at the 2009 IIHF World Hockey Championship.

2009-05-29T19:47:00.002-04:00

The Panthers are set to kick off their development camp on Monday, which will run through the following week, in Ontario.

Most of the Amerks' players will be there, with a couple of exceptions: Tanner Glass and Chris Beckford-Tseu don't appear to have been invited.

Glass is a restricted free agent, but the lack of an invite doesn't necessarily mean the Panthers are going to pass on tendering a qualifying offer and retaining the forward. Beckford-Tseu, on the other hand, has a year remaining on his contract - one that the Panthers are not too excited to carry around for another season, I'm sure.

But more importantly than who won't be there would be who will be there:

Forwards
Brady Calla
Dan Collins
Evgeni Dadonov
James DeLory*
Mike Duco
Michael Frolik
A.J. Jenks
Shawn Matthias
Kenndal McArdle
Michal Repik
Eric Selleck**
Andrew Sweetland
Ryan Watson

Defensemen
Peter Aston
Luke Beaverson
Michael Caruso
Adam Comrie
Roman Derlyuk
Matt Duffy
Keaton Ellerby
Jason Garrison
Jordan Henry
John Lee
Colby Robak

Goaltenders
Marc Cheverie
Brian Foster
Jacob Markström
Tyler Plante
Alexander Salak***

* The roster released by the Panthers (.pdf link) has DeLory listed as a defenseman, so that may be the position on which he works, but they wanted him to try playing as a winger this past season and he played as a right wing in Oshawa. So, he could be either position in camp.

** Eric Selleck will be attending on a tryout. He had 26 points in 26 games in his freshman season with the Oswego State Lakers, a Division-III school. Last year, Selleck played junior A with the CJHL's Pembroke Lumberkings, scoring 81 points (43 goals) in 49 games.

*** Salak signed with the Panthers today.

2009-05-29T17:52:00.004-04:00

The Panthers have made their first move of the off-season today by signing 22 year-old goalie Alexander Salák.

Salák was born in the Czech Republic, but has played in Finland since 2006. After a season in second-tier Finnish hockey, Salák signed with TPS Turku in 2007.

He played in 52 games this season with TPS, posting a 20-20-9 record, but a 2.4 GAA and a save percentage of .923%. Salák's performance seems to have most who have talked about him calling him the TPS MVP this season.

Prior to moving to Finland, Salák played for Ceské Budejovice in the Czech Republic, and during the 2004-2005 season, Salák was named the backup for the Czech U18 team, though he played in only one game. Also on that U18 team: Panthers winger Michael Frolik.

2009-05-21T09:51:00.002-04:00

At least for now.

The young goalie signed a contract extension with Lokomotiv, and though the details aren't out yet, there's a good chance he can be the backup goaltender this season.

I started a new job, so I've been busy. Sorry about that.

2009-05-15T12:32:00.003-04:00

The Panthers announced today that training camp will be held in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia this September, leading up to the first preseason game of the year on September 15th against the Ottawa Senators at the Halifax Metro Center.

Halfiax Metro Center is home to the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads and seats 10,595 for hockey.

Florida's entire preseason schedule is still a couple weeks away, but the Panthers leave for Finland at the end of September to take on the Blackhawks in the 2009 NHL Premiere, so there won't be any October preseason games like this past season.

For the past three seasons, camp has been held in Vail, Colorado. So this should be a nice way to mix it up.

2009-05-12T21:16:00.005-04:00

Jody Gage is now the former general manager of the Rochester Americans, having been removed from his position after thirteen years in the Amerks' front office.

Beyond that, Gage played for the Amerks for eleven years, racking up 728 points in 653 games.

According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Gage, who has been with the team in some capacity or another, for the last 24 years, may still remain with the club in a lesser role, but at the moment, the D&C reports that neither Curt Styres nor Lewis Staats could be reached for comment to explain the decision.

When Gage retired from playing in the mid-90s, he became an assistant general manager with the Amerks. The team won the Calder Cup and after that, Gage became Rochester's general manager. Since then, Rochester has won five division titles, advanced to the Calder Cup final twice and finished with the best record in the league in 2004-05, setting a franchise record with 51 wins.

I'm very anxious to hear why this move was made, because it definitely caught me by surprise. I don't really think you can attribute Rochester's poor seasons these last two years to Gage. Buffalo was a terrible parent club at the end of their affiliation and Florida gave the Amerks an extremely inexperienced team in their first full season as sole parent. Money could be the driving factor behind the decision, as most of the roster is stocked by the Panthers.

2009-05-12T15:40:00.006-04:00

Sports Illustrated put out their list of the top five owners in the NHL, and with it, the five worst. It shouldn't come with much surprise that Florida Panthers owner Alan Cohen made the bottom five.

The Panthers have been the epitome of mediocrity for nearly a decade, lagging behind the rest of the league most seasons only to come on late and get themselves away from a top pick and away from the playoffs.

A revolving door of coaches and general managers under Cohen's watch should put him on the list. Although, I don't think he should be the second worst owner in the league. Third or fourth? Probably, unfortunately.

The actual list reads like this:

5: Predator Holdings LLC (Nashville Predators)
4: Atlanta Spirit (Atlanta Thrashers)
3: Charles Wang (New York Islanders)
2: Alan Cohen (Florida Panthers)
1: MLSE (Toronto Maple Leafs)

After the start that the Tampa Bay Lightning have had since Oren Koules and Len Barrie took over, I'm not sure how they're not even in the top five. Realistically, they should be either #1 or #2. According to SI, MLSE's problem is that, despite being a nearly $2B entity, their most valuable asset (the Maple Leafs) hasn't won the Stanley Cup in 42 years. Fair enough. But, I think Brian Burke will do well for the Leafs, even if he has to blow up the franchise to do it. So right now, if you're looking for the most spectacularly unsuccessful owners, maybe Koules and Barrie should be #1.

Yes, they might turn out to be decent as they get some more experience, but their start this past season was an abomination. I've tried to destroy my teams in Eastside Hockey Manager and had less success than the Lightning did this past season:

Take for instance, Dan Boyle. Supposedly, the owners threatened to waive Boyle, who would likely be claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers if he didn't agree to waive his no-trade clause. You'd think the first kicker here would be that Boyle signed a contract extension a week earlier, but when Tampa traded him to San Jose, they got Matt Carle, Ty Wishart and a late first in return. Koules then said that acquiring Matt Carle "ensures that our team is better in October and for the next ten years." After 12 games, Matt Carle was traded to Philadelphia for Steve Eminger and Steve Downie. Downie has since been hit with a 20 game AHL suspension for abuse of an official and Steve Eminger is now a Panther. Dan Boyle, it should be noted, put up 57 points this season.

After 16 games, recent hire Barry Melrose became recent fire Barry Melrose.

When they realized the defense was a problem, they decided to just give every defenseman in the league an opportunity - 22 different defensemen played at least one game with the Lightning at some point during the season. Most of the defensemen were AHLers or cast-aways from other clubs, as was the case with Cory Murphy and Noah Welch from Florida. Welch and Murphy played on the top pairing in Tampa at one point, together. Good guys, but top pairing defensemen? Not so fast. And now, with rumblings about a Vincent Lecavalier trade that would get them out of the huge extension he just signed, Koules and Barrie are looking for new investors to help reduce debt.

For Tampa, the way these guys ran their first year would be like taking the Panthers' last eight years and bunching them up in to one huge, collective fail. Maybe it just hasn't been enough time to pass fair judgement, so they didn't make the list. But the fact remains, no matter how they turn out, this was a rough start.

As for Wang in New York, on one hand, he saved the franchise. If you want to call it that. The Islanders haven't done much lately, but he sank a fortune to keep the team on Long Island and they've been unable to get support for a new arena. On the other hand, not more than a week ago, Wang came out and said he regrets buying the team and, "If I had the chance, I wouldn't do it again."

The Thrashers are in the same boat as the Panthers, sort of. Atlanta has a superstar in Ilya Kovalchuk and a promising center in Bryan Little, but like the Cats, there's absolutely no fixed direction and the only thing that the Thrashers are thrashing right now is the checkbook. Nashville's problems have been buried by the drama and financial woes that now have Phoenix on the hot seat.

Phoenix and Tampa Bay should have strong cases to be in that list, but who you bump to get them there is probably where it gets tricky, and I guess Tampa can get a pass since this year can be attributed to their first experiences owning a pro hockey team.

But looking at Alan Cohen's tenure as owner, it's like I said before. The Panthers have had a dozen coaches and general managers, or interim fillers at the position since he took over. That's terrible and it's no wonder we haven't seen playoff hockey here in nearly a decade. You have to commit to something, and I can only hope that it's a lesson finally learned, because we need it. Given the consistent, though gradual, improvements we've been seeing the last couple of years, I hope he's going to be off of those lists very soon.

2009-05-11T16:21:00.007-04:00

Today, South Jersey's Courier-Post took a look at some of the options the Philadelphia Flyers may have in goal moving forward and the possibilities are all over the board. Both of the Flyers' goalies are unrestricted free agents this summer, so it's no surprise that one option is to acquire Panthers' goaltender Craig Anderson.

Philly already has one option in simply re-signing Martin Biron, but so far, they haven't gotten around to it. Maybe they won't.

Biron's regular season numbers were nothing special: a 2.76 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage aren't top-15 in either category and big saves weren't always made when the Flyers needed to get them. Marty Biron's salary isn't bad compared to some around the league, but for a team pressed up against the cap, that shouldn't cost them $3.5M.

The Flyers have had to work hard to stay below the upper limit this year, and if the cap were to go down in a year or two - Biron being middle-of-the-pack at $3.5M just isn't ideal for Philadelphia moving forward. And as the article writes, even if you offer Biron a lesser salary, it's probably not a deal that gets accepted unless it's a multi-year deal. Teams always have to be mindful of the future, and two years from now, that might not be in the Flyers' best interest.

So, it's no surprise that rumors are abound over Philadelphia's potential interest in the UFA goalie market.

Last week, Flyers GM Paul Holmgren said that the team is even throwing some consideration Ray Emery's way. Whether it's true or not, statements like that generally aren't made when a team has already got a goaltender for the following season.

But beyond Biron and Antero Niittymäki and a plethora of generally run-of-the-mill free agents, the Flyers can always look at the options they have via trade. With a potential cap hit to dump, the Flyers can probably offer the Panthers more for a UFA's rights than any other team would be comfortable, or willing. It doesn't hurt that Philadelphia's large cap hits come from their offense.

The Courier-Post article suggests trading any combination of forwards Joffrey Lupul, Danny Briere and James van Riemsdyk, defenseman Ryan Parent and a first-round draft pick, for the rights to Jay Bouwmeester and Craig Anderson.

Briere's salary next season would be second only to Pavel Bure in the Panthers' history, though, and based on the layoffs and moves within Sunrise Sports & Entertainment this past season, I don't think the Panthers would be willing to take on a player who struggled with injuries all year - and will make $8M next year. No matter what, someone is going to want an advance on negotiations with Jay Bouwmeester, and the Cats just may be able to come away with a nice return for a player that they would otherwise lose for nothing.

Still, Philadelphia seems like a realistic trade partner and all things considered, a deal between the two clubs seems like it could work well for both teams. The Flyers have made no secret of their interest in Jay Bouwmeester and more recently, Craig Anderson - and Cats GM Jacques Martin stopped in at the Wachovia Center in February to catch a pair of Flyers games just prior to the trade deadline. Then, when the Flyers reportedly made an offer for the defenseman on deadline day, Jacques Martin passed on the deal - presumably because the offer helped the Panthers "in the future" but only at the expense of their playoff push (which didn't end well).

So we know there's already something there, and it's been there for months. If Florida's willing to take a big salary, Philadelphia has the offensive depth to help the Panthers, and if a prospect with the potential that James van Riemsdyk has were to come to the Panthers, it'd be hard not to get excited for his development.

Of course, they could just be cool and give us Jeff Carter. I wouldn't mind.

2009-05-10T23:10:00.004-04:00

The World Championship has ended, with Russia defeating the Canadians to win gold. Florida's four representatives came away without medals, although the United States did make it to the medal round.

Probably the best overall performance can be attributed to Karlis Skrastins. The Panthers' defenseman (and looming UFA) served as Latvia's captain, had a goal and an assist and was chosen by the coaches as one of his country's three best players.

Skrastins' fellow countryman Janis Sprukts, while named Latvia's player of the game when they took on Sweden, didn't crack the list for Latvia and neither Rostislav Olesz (Czech) nor Keith Ballard (USA) made those lists for their respective countries.

Nevertheless, it was good to see these guys playing a little more after the season here in Florida came to an end.

So, with that, I'll move the table to a post where it might look slightly less tacky.

Game Results (IIHF)

2009-05-10T22:01:00.006-04:00

(Jacques Lemaire drinks from the Stanley Cup for the first time - in 1968)

According to the Boston Globe, former Minnesota Wild head coach and Palmetto, Florida (south of Tampa) resident Jacques Lemaire is talking with both the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning about a position as a consultant (near the bottom). The Globe speculates that the role could be comparable to that of Scotty Bowman in Chicago, and before that, Detroit.

As a player, Lemaire won the Stanley Cup eight times - all with the Montreal Canadiens, and twice he scored Stanley Cup winning goals. Only five other players have can say they have done the same: Toe Blake, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Bobby Orr and Mike Bossy.

After retiring, Lemaire won the Cup twice more with Montreal as an assistant general manager, and when the Devils won the Cup in 1995, it was Jacques Lemaire behind the bench earning his eleventh Cup win. There aren't many in hockey who have been around success near as often as Lemaire.

Lemaire's coaching strategy was defense oriented and that was evident with Minnesota, of course. Before that, all that talk about the Devils playing the trap in the '90s? Lemaire was there. So I think we can all see where Jacques Martin takes an interest.

When he started in Minnesota, the Wild traded for Lemaire's nephew, goaltender Manny Fernandez. Splitting time with Jamie McLennan, Fernandez took advantage of the opportunity and went from being a backup to a legitimate starter in the NHL. Incidentally, Fernandez is an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Lemaire has had incredible success as a player, and he's had success both in management and as a head coach. He's won the Stanley Cup eleven times. That's almost as many full seasons (not counting the 2004-05 lockout or the shortened season in 1994-95) as the Panthers have in their history as a franchise, and it's nearly three times as many Cups as the Hall of Famer Denis Potvin won. Denis' history was impressive enough to have in the organization.

Lemaire also boasts a pair of Jack Adams Awards, winning it first in 1994 with the Devils and then again in 2003 with Minnesota.

Success like that doesn't chance itself upon an individual. Lemaire's an incredible hockey mind and if he were to join the Panthers in any capacity, the Cats would be better for it. Much better.

2009-05-09T11:17:00.009-04:00

Last night, Denver University gave out it's end-of-the-year awards for hockey and for goaltender Marc Cheverie, you'd have to think it was a pretty good night.

The Panthers' final draft selection from the 2006 entry draft led the Pioneers to a 23-12-5 record and second place overall in the WCHA, in the process helping guide the team in to their 20th NCAA Tournament.

While the Pioneers were eliminated in the first round by the eventual runner-up Miami Redhawks (Miami of Ohio), it was unquestionably another strong season for the university's hockey program.

Cheverie, a sophomore, became the team's starter after Peter Mannino graduated last spring and went on to sign with the Islanders. For Cheverie, the change would move him from appearing in 5 games as a freshman to starting all 40 as a sophomore this season - and he thrived on the opportunity.

Nicknamed 'Chevy' (Cheverie.. clever!), Marc finished the season with a record of 23-12-5, a 2.21 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and four shutouts in forty games.

His performance on the ice earned him the team's Bill Masterton Memorial Award (MVP) and their Star of the Year Award (for picking up the most star-of-the-game points). On a league-wide level, Cheverie received All-WCHA Second Team honors, was one of DU's 18 All-WCHA Academic honorees and was recognized as one of the school's seven WCHA Scholar-Athletes (GPA of 3.5 or better).

Back in April, New Hampshire Wildcats goalie Brian Foster was named the team's MVP (Roger A. LeClerg Trophy). He also picked up the team's "SCO Nate Hardy Ironman Award", awarded to the player whom "excels in the weight room through a 15-event competition during fall dry-land training".

Out of Ohio State, defenseman Matt Bartkowski received two awards: 'George Burke Most Valuable Freshman' and the 'Joseph W. Smith Best Defensive Player' award, as voted by his teammates. He was also voted to the CCHA All-Rookie Team.

2009-05-07T15:28:00.008-04:00

There's good news out of North Dakota today on sophomore defenseman Derrick LaPoint. LaPoint, if you recall, suffered a serious leg injury during a game against Minnesota State-Mankato back in February. Both his tibia and fibula were broken when his skate caught the boards awkwardly after being bumped from behind.

The Fighting Sioux website has a Q&A with LaPoint today in which the 20-year-old says, "Things have been going really good. I’m way ahead of schedule."

LaPoint underwent surgery after the injury and has been wearing a protective boot ever since. But the injury, which his doctor said could keep some people in a boot for seven months, hasn't changed much about LaPoint. Instead, his commitment and work ethic are shining through. He resumed riding a bike a month ago, and by four months (June), he says that he may be fully out of the boot and getting back in shape for the new season.

You just come to a realization that it happened and you can’t really do much about it. You just have to move forward and hopefully just get back as fast as you can.

The full interview can be found at the UND website.

2009-05-06T18:31:00.005-04:00

In an unfortunate move, the Florida Panthers and TV color man Denis Potvin have parted ways.

The official release at the Panthers' site thanks Potvin for his time with the organization as Denis had been, until now, the only color commentator in the franchise's history.

Steve Goldstein retains his role as play-by-play, while former Panther Bill Lindsay will move from the radio booth and replace Potvin on FSN. Randy Moller will stay on to call the games on the radio.

In reality, while Lindsay might grow in to the role and eventually make it his own, filling Potvin's shoes is going to be difficult. Denis spoke his mind, and it wasn't always to defend the Panthers as the "brutal homer" he was often times made out to be on various internet forums.

Further still, it's a move that will undoubtedly upset a good amount of Cats fans (no, I'm sure not everyone appreciated the occasional story of Potvin's hockey days with the Islanders). That it's, in all likelihood, financially motivated makes it more of a disappointment.

Potvin told Steve Gorten of the Sun-Sentinel: "It's tough. It's very tough. You come to a point where you figure you're a lifer with a company or a group. That's not the case anymore. I was surprised. I was not expecting it."

Sunrise Sports and Entertainment has been in talks of a merger recently, they've had to lay off employees and now Denis Potvin is a former member of the broadcast team. With Phoenix's recent woes serving as a reminder that nothing lasts forever, it will undoubtedly raise questions about the Panthers' financial standing.

But for the time being, there is no reason to believe the Panthers are in danger. Struggling, quite possibly. But in danger? I doubt it.

As for the organization's take on the ordeal, Michael Yormark spoke to George Richards and defended the move as one with no financial motivation whatsoever. Rather, that they were simply seeking a new direction and that their financial relationship with FSN meant that it made no difference the number of broadcasters on board.

So if it didn't matter, why exactly has Denis been shown the door? We'll probably be hearing a little more about this as time goes by.

2009-05-04T16:57:00.005-04:00

With the playoffs upon us, the Panthers golfing, prospects' collegiate and junior seasons wrapped up and all but a select few NHLers still playing in the World Championship, there's not much to do.

The Panthers organization has been active this off-season with regard to keeping the site worth reading on a near daily basis, and that's something that in most off-seasons, we have been lacking.

They've kept tabs on the guys over in Switzerland for the World Championship and they've introduced a few new blogs on the site. First, we saw team president and chief operating officer Michael Yormark put out some entries under the name "Sunrise Edition". For the most part, it's a gigantic advertisement and that seems to have irked some people, but really, if reaching out and showing some loyalty to partners and potential advertisers can help solidify the sponsorship base, that's never a bad thing. Unfortunately, there's not much there that deals with the nitty-gritty details about the Cats that summertime makes everyone yearn to understand. If you look at the "Panthers News" section to the right of this page, his entries should be preceded by "Sunrise Edition" and this is the most recent entry.

The other blog that has popped up is written by Dave Joseph. As the description on the left of his entries state, he's the director of internet and publication content. There's a good deal more hockey talk in his first two entries and then some other random stuff. Looking to the right, anything that starts with "Two Minutes For:" is one of Dave's blogs. The most recent entry is right here.

There is an article on the upcoming draft, as well as the "Above the Glass" feature that keeps the TV & radio voices of the Panthers (minus Denis Potvin) busy talking about, at present, the playoffs. All told, the Panthers are doing enough to keep people coming back to the site and to make sure they can't just fade in to obscurity over the summer. Hopefully, they'll keep that up.

With George Richards (Miami Herald) and Steve Gorten (Sun-Sentinel) holding other responsibilities with their respective papers, the day-to-day updates we live by over the course of the regular season have slowed to a nearly interminable crawl.

So for now, while everyone searches for stories to run, features to air and for the best time slots to fill to make the most of what they've got, here are some direct links that have been active recently:

Florida Panthers @ Twitter: This has been great during the WC. Lots of updates and quick news on new content at the site.

South Florida Business Journal: If you care to monitor the potential merger that has been discussed, this link (I've pasted the URL to the sports section), should be a good place to check.

Florida Panthers: Of course. Hopefully they'll keep the new stuff coming in to the heart of the off-season. For the time being, they've stayed busy.

Miami Herald Hockey Section: It's mostly geared towards the playoffs at this point, but a condensed version of George Richards' blog is also in the top left corner, so you could strike off-season gold and find a story in the hockey section and a completely different entry from GR's 'On Frozen Pond' in one click. Or not. But, it's worth a shot.

Sun-Sentinel Panthers' Section: Similar to the Herald, only with the Panthers remaining the prime focus. Steve Gorten's blog is in the upper right corner, so like with the Herald, maybe you'll get good news (or not so good news) in one click. Or maybe not.

Florida Panthers' Official Message Boards: They're totally dead at this point in time. Sign up and talk about something. Please?

I'll try to come up with something worth reading this week because, quite frankly, I'm not in the mood to stop talking about the Panthers, either.

2009-05-02T11:08:00.003-04:00

Fox Sports Florida is airing their Panthers' end-of-season wrap-up show at 5:30 this evening. It's a thirty-minute special that will feature plenty of highlights, interviews and other features to recap one of the better seasons in recent memory for the Panthers.

As always, Craig Minervini will host and Frank Forte will have a special feature on Stephen Weiss.

If you miss it tonight, the first replay will be on Monday, May 11th at 7:00 PM, and then it will replay three more times in the final half of the month.

Monday, May 11: 7:00 PM
Saturday, May 16: 6:30 PM
Thursday, May 28: 7:30 PM
Saturday, May 30: 6:30 PM

The only other programming listed at the FSF Panthers' schedule is a repeat of the "Where are They Now?" edition of Inside the Panthers. That repeat will precede the post-season special on Saturday, May 16th at 6 PM.

2009-05-02T01:39:00.002-04:00

In a translated interview from RussianProspects.com, Panthers' prospect Evgeni Dadonov says that he will be coming to Florida this summer to attend a development camp. Specifically:

This summer I am going to attend a training camp in North America. Florida will host a development camp, in which it will be possible to meet professionals who give good advice to improve any single part of the game

It's the final paragraph in an article that focuses on Dadonov making his debut with the Russian national team this year.

Dadonov was drafted by the Panthers during the 2007 draft in the third round, 71st overall.

2009-04-30T11:17:00.003-04:00

Richard Zednik is leaving the NHL and heading to Russia. The Panthers' UFA forward signed a two-year contract with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl today.

Zednik signed a two-year deal with the Panthers prior to the 2007-08 season that was worth $3.25M (1.5, 1.75). He played in 54 games before the skate-to-neck sidelined him for the season. He scored 15 goals and added 11 assists in those 54 games, but had just started to get hot at the time - even picking up a hat trick against Toronto five days before the injury.

This season, in 70 games, Zednik scored 17 goals. Two of those goals made the highlight reels, first against Carey Price on January 29th and then against the Islanders' Joey MacDonald on Feburary 5th. As a Panther, he will finish up with 32 goals, 27 assists and 59 points in 124 games.

In his NHL career, the 33-year-old Slovakian has played in 745 games with the Capitals, Canadiens, Islanders and Panthers, amassing 200 goals and 379 overall points. In the 1997-98 season - his first full NHL season - Zednik had 10 points in 17 playoff games with Washington, making it to the Stanley Cup Final before being swept out by Detroit.

I'm not sure Zednik was in the Panthers' plans for next season, but I am a little surprised that he left so quickly and chose to pass on NHL free agency.

2009-04-28T14:12:00.003-04:00

Hockey's Future has put up their review of the four Panthers' rookies that saw NHL ice this past season.

Michael Frolik, Shawn Matthias, Kenndal McArdle and Jason Garrison each get mentioned to varying degrees.

Panthers' 2008-09 rookie review

2009-04-27T17:27:00.002-04:00

Latvia defeated Sweden for the first time in their history today by a 3-2 final. The two teams have faced each other eleven times in the past, and Sweden won 10, and the two clubs played to a draw one time. But today, the Latvians won in a shootout.

Karlis Skrastins, the Latvian captain, was even in plus/minus with two shots and no points, while Janis Sprukts went without points and shots.

Latvia's goaltender, Edgars Masalskis, stopped 38 of 40 Swedish shots.

The United States and the Czech Republic both won today, as well. For the U.S., defenseman Keith Ballard had one assist and for the Czech Republic, Rostislav Olesz had a helper of his own.

The U.S.A. rolled over Austria, 6-1 and the Czechs beat Norway, 5-2.

In the little bit of the Czech/Norway game that I was able to watch, Olesz looked pretty good, and his assist was nicely done. Protecting the puck while off to the side of the Norwegian net, he started back out, saw teammate Miroslav Blatak coming down center and fed a short pass to Blatak which promptly entered the net. The goal gave the Czech Republic a 4-1 lead.

2009-04-27T11:22:00.004-04:00

From Sports Business Journal --

The Florida Panthers are in negotiations to merge the team, its arena management company and rights to the real estate surrounding BankAtlantic Center with Sports Properties Acquisition Corp., a public-stock company formed last year, sources said.

The potential deal values the assets at $230 million, including debt, with the plum in the talks a planned mixed-use development around the south Florida arena, the sources said. The negotiations have been taking place over the last several weeks, the sources said.

As part of the prospective deal, the sources said, the Panthers’ owners would receive stock in Sports Properties, making the hockey team a unit of the public company. Ironically, the team under former owner Wayne Huizenga was also publicly held before he sold it in 2001 to current general partner Alan Cohen for $101 million.

Tony Tavares, who managed the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington, where the club became the Nationals, is the Sports Properties CEO. Board members include 1996 vice presidential candidate and current chairman of USA Football Jack Kemp, as well as baseball hall of famer Hank Aaron.

The Panthers have struggled in the tepid south Florida sports market, failing to reach the postseason since 2000 and last winning a playoff game in 1997. Their attendance ranked 24th out of 30 NHL teams in this past regular season at 15,622 per game, far below the league average of 17,460 despite a 1.2 percent increase from 2007-08.

However, Sunrise Sports books more than 200 events a year for the arena, including Panthers games, and Pollstar, a music industry publication, named the venue last year one of its top eight as part of its Arena of the Year award.

The ownership and management of the company are expected to remain after a merger.

That's not the entire article, though. I've condensed it a bit. The whole thing in its entirety is here.

By the way, this doesn't mean they're moving or anything like that. It could actually give the team some more financial stability, which I'm sure we'd all embrace.

2009-04-25T17:09:00.002-04:00

Both Karlis Skrastins and Janis Sprukts were a +1 today when Latvia took on the United States, with Skrastins serving as captain and Sprukts registering an assist, but the Latvian team fell to the U.S.A. by a final score of 4-2. Keith Ballard had two shots and was a -1 for the Americans.

Next up for the U.S. is Austria on Monday, while Latvia gets Sweden - also on Monday.

The Czech Republic defeated Denmark earlier today, 5-0. For the Panthers, however, only Rostislav Olesz was in the line-up. Playing on the fourth line, Olesz had one shot on goal. They face Norway on Monday.

2009-04-21T20:54:00.004-04:00

Five Panthers players will be representing their countries in Switzerland at this year's IIHF World Championship.

Michael Frolik, Rostislav Olesz, Keith Ballard, Karlis Skrastins and Janis Sprukts will all be playing for their respective nations when the tournament kicks off on Friday.

Like with the World Junior Championsip in January, I'll keep their stats up at the top of the page.

Janis Sprukts will be playing for the Latvian national team for the sixth time in his career. He's played in 31 WC games, scoring two goals and assisting on six others. Along with his eight points, the center has six penalty minutes and no medals to his credit.

Also playing for Latvia, defenseman Karlis Skrastins will make his first appearance on the national team since playing in the Olympics in 2006. Prior to that, he last dressed in a world championship in 2005. He has played in 46 WC games and he has 27 points (13G, 14A). Way back in 1994, Skrastins had three goals and five assists in seven games, and in 2003, three goals and three assists in six games.

Keith Ballard has appeared in two WCs in his career, and this will be his third. He has five assists in twelve career games, along with a hard-to-notice 32 penalty minutes. He played in '07 and in '08, but in both seasons, the United States failed to medal.

This is Rostislav Olesz's second appearance on the men's national team for the World Championships, although he also played for the Czech Republic in the 2006 Winter Olympics. In 2007, his lone WC to date, Olesz scored two goals and had five points in seven games, but the Czechs finished seventh that year.

Last, but not least: Michael Frolik. Frolik will be joining Olesz on the Czech men's team, and this is the rookie's first WC. It will not, however, be the first time he gets to play on a team with Czech legend Jaromir Jagr. The two played together briefly for HC Kladno during what was the NHL lockout. At the time, Frolik was only 16 years old. When Jagr first played for Kladno, he too was only 16. The experience should be phenomenal for the Panthers' top prospect.

Then there are the players that aren't playing. David Booth would have seemed a definite to play for the United States, but along with Craig Anderson, Booth declined the invitation. Understandably apprehensive to risk injury without a contract next season, but very unfortunate that that's the reason he chose not to play.

Jay Bouwmeester is not on Canada's team and even if Stephen Weiss received an invite, he has a bad wrist and wouldn't be playing anyway.

Richard Zednik turned down an invite to play with Slovakia and Ville Peltonen can not play for Finland due to a hand injury.

2009-04-21T16:22:00.003-04:00

According to Eurohockey.net, Michael Frolik and Rostislav Olesz will be playing for the Czech national team in the upcoming World Championship. The other NHLers on the Czech team are Ales Hemsky, Ales Kotalik (both from the Edmonton Oilers) and Marek Zidlicky (Minnesota), and they'll be joined, of course, by Jaromir Jagr. Tomas Vokoun won't be playing. All 26 players can be found at Eurohockey.net or the IIHF website.

Recently, Craig Anderson and David Booth turned down invitations to play the U.S. team, both citing their lack of contracts next season and Anderson also acknowledging a desire to rest for a bit, but Keith Ballard will be playing for the American team when the tournament begins later this week

Meanwhile, Jacob Markström, who played for the Swedish national team during their exhibition games as other players finished their pro seasons, was removed from Sweden's preliminary roster earlier this month. The three Swedish goaltenders are Stefan Liv, Johan Holmqvist and Jonas Gustavsson.

Further solidifying the belief that Jacob Markström will be leaving Sweden after this upcoming season was Brynäs's recent acquisition of 21-year-old goaltender Eddie Läck from Leksand.

2009-04-17T02:21:00.002-04:00

With Craig Anderson a UFA and seeking a starter's job, all kinds of scenarios fly around, but it looks like one - people expecting to sign Swedish goalie Jacob Markström, to back up Vokoun - can be put to bed.

It was only a small paragraph towards the bottom of an article about Tomas Vokoun, but here's Jacques Martin's quote from the story:

He has another year on his contract. That’s great development for him. It’s equivalent if not better than the American Hockey League (AHL). At only 19, I’m OK with that. Hopefully, at the end of next year, we’ll get him under contract and it will be up to him, his performance, to dictate whether he’s ready to play here or whether he needs more time in the (AHL).

A day before the regular season ended, I was anxious to find some content to fill the off-season, but the reality set in and it was a bit deflating, so I've just been looking for work and watching the playoffs.

2009-04-11T13:55:00.003-04:00

Earlier today, George Richards caught up with Ville Peltonen and Radek Dvorak and both players said that they want to play with the Panthers again next season. Both are unrestricted free agents this summer, so that may or may not happen.

The roster as it appears today includes nine forwards already under contract next season: Gregory Campbell, Michael Frolik, Nathan Horton, Kamil Kreps, Brett McLean, Rostislav Olesz, Cory Stillman, Nick Tarnasky, Stephen Weiss

Three forwards are unrestricted: Radek Dvorak, Ville Peltonen, Richard Zednik

Two forwards are restricted: David Booth, Anthony Stewart

You have to assume David Booth is the first priority to get signed, so unless the Panthers are preparing for a busy offseason, I'm not sure they really can sign both of them back. Otherwise, we're looking at the same offense next season that was scoring one goal here, two goals there and getting shut out everywhere else down the stretch.

Steve Gorten adds defenseman Karlis Skrastins to that list of players that want to return, and of the three, Skrastins might be the most important. His shot-blocking and all-around consistent defense was a huge asset this season and it would be nice to have that again next year.

Over the summer, I'll be tinkering with this some more so that I can make it a deeper and more resourceful page come next season, but I'll also be keeping an eye out for anything interesting about the team.

2009-04-09T23:38:00.005-04:00

Eighty games to their credit and the goal of making the postseason hinged on Florida winning tonight. Sure, they could have lost in overtime and won on Saturday and still had a chance, but the reality is that Florida needed to win.

And they did. But as the clock hit zero in Atlanta, up in New York, the Rangers were holding off the Flyers in the final minute of play. To get in, the Panthers needed a win and New York or Montreal had to lose, or at most, get one point.

New York's win clinched their playoff berth and the focus shifted to the Bruins/Canadiens game, which was, if you look with impartiality to Florida's situation, a great game. The Bruins held a 3-1 lead early, but the Habs stormed back and took a 4-3 lead for themselves. Boston tied the game up and all anyone could do was hope the Bruins could score in regulation to keep Florida's hopes alive, but as time wound down, reality set in - Florida's missed the playoffs once again.

For those keeping score, the Bruins did win that game, in overtime.

When you add it all up, the answer is the same as it was last season, the year before that and before that through to the turn of the century. For some players - and likely fans - it will be the end of their days with the Panthers. For others, just another disappointment softened by the thought that next year will be better.

You'll get such a wide array of answers on this season, depending on who you ask, but whether the tone is optimistic or downright angry, most are justifiable. After all, it's been eight full seasons now since south Florida last saw playoff hockey. If you're counting years, it's nine. Nine years ago, people worried about the Y2K bug. Stephen Weiss, now 26 years old, was a rookie in the Ontario Hockey League. Minnesota and Columbus hadn't yet entered the league. Columbus, who hadn't made the playoffs in their history, put that to bed by clinching a spot in the playoffs this season - and good for them. Fans of both teams know all too well what the feeling has been for so long.

Still, Florida took another small step forward this season. Those words have, understandably, lost their meaning to many, however. We've taken steps forward every year since 2000, all the way to 91 points and a chance for 93. If someone told you last September that Florida would have 91 points, would you have believed it?

The last time Florida had 90+ points, they made the playoffs (1999-2000). For only the third time in franchise history, the Cats have won 40 games. 227 goals through 81 games is the sixth highest total in team history and the 227 goals against is currently fifth fewest in team history. Stephen Weiss, a fan favourite and potential team captain someday has had a career year and with two more assists tonight, he's one point away from 60. David Booth's go-ahead goal in the third gives him 29 goals, and Florida's second round pick from 2004 (53rd overall) now has 55 points, up considerably from his breakout season last year. Nathan Horton's point totals were down, although he missed significant time due to injury and also had to move back to center. If he can find consistency, Horton will be just fine as well.

Take a look at Michael Frolik's rookie campaign and you'll have something to smile about. 20 goals and 21 assists and if you watched the games, you could easily see that there is much more to his game that experience will bring about.

McCabe has been a treat, Ballard was a great presence on the ice and he always knew when a timely hit was necessary, Campbell had a career year and we got a glimpse of the future when Michal Repik scored in his NHL debut and then again later in the year. We saw Jason Garrison, an excellent college signing, turn pro in a strong way with Rochester with 34 points so far and he showed great poise in his lone game with Florida early in the season.

Florida's goaltenders are #2 and #3 in the NHL in save percentage, and Jacob Markström led Sweden to the WJC final, winning top goalie honours for the tournament.

And then there's rookie coach Peter DeBoer. Until Florida fell out of contention, DeBoer was getting more than his share of praises during Jack Adams discussions (coach of the year).

Along the way, there have been some bumps and bruises, but DeBoer has been another bright spot in a season that may ultimately be considered little more than another early summer for the Panthers.

There were disappointments on the year, no doubt. The Jay Bouwmeester ordeal lingered throughout the season and not trading the defenseman at the deadline will be a decision that, looking back, will probably do more harm than good knowing now that Florida still didn't make the playoffs, but at the time, it was a risk they were willing to take.

Rostislav Olesz had a dismal season that was hampered once again by injuries, although if he can stay healthy from the outset next year and play the way he did to end this season, he's going to make his contract a non-issue. Of course, that's an "if" for a reason.

In the end, Florida is out and no matter how many positives you dig up, it stings.

2009-04-09T18:50:00.002-04:00

After playing in seven games with the Amerks, Matt Duffy has been sent to the ECHL to play some more hockey this season with the Florida Everblades.

Duffy, a 23-year-old defenseman, joined Rochester on an amateur tryout after finishing his collegiate career with the Maine Black Bears.

In his seven games with Rochester, Duffy scored twice and added four assists. He also played in two games with the Everblades last month before joining the Amerks.

Florida won 49 games this season and led the league with 103 points, and starting tomorrow night, the 'Blades will take on the Gwinnett Gladiators in the opening round of the Kelly Cup playoffs.

2009-04-08T13:07:00.004-04:00

The streams at both amerks.com and democratandchronicle.com cut out quite a bit, so I couldn't get much out of it. But, I did my best.

Rochester's owner, Curt Styres, spoke only briefly, thanking the fans, players, coaching staff and families for the season, along with the goal of making the playoffs. He mentioned that there were discussions throughout the season with Florida, and that was that.

Jacques Martin, who arrived late, spoke much more in-depth and said a lot of what the fans would have wanted to hear. Whether it will come to fruition or not, we'll see soon enough.

JM emphasized that a winning environment is important in the development of young players and that there is a good working relationship between the two clubs.

He then moved on to discuss a bit of what the plan was for this past season, starting with goaltenders. The two sides knew that goaltending was important, and so they made a commitment to a goaltender. Without naming names, however, Jacques' thoughts on the subject included, "It didn't pay off," and "We were disappointed in the goaltending."

Beckford-Tseu, if you didn't know, was signed to a TWO year deal last summer. Before he was relegated to the ECHL, he went 3-14-1 with Rochester. His GAA was 3.96 and his save percentage, a stellar .868.

There was no mention of Beckford-Tseu's future, however. There wouldn't have been, anyway. The season isn't over and CBT is back with the team due to injuries to Plante and Brodeur. His future with the team may have been foreshadowed when Martin twice mentioned that the commitment to a goalie in the off-season didn't pay off.

The Steve MacIntyre ordeal was brought up by the Cats' general manager and he said that the plans for next season will include another physical presence, but that, as was said back when Florida lost MacIntyre to Edmonton via waiver claim (Mac's played 20 NHL games this season) there just wasn't anything they could do. He signed with an NHL club and had to clear to go to the AHL. He didn't.

Around December, Martin said that the parties met and also brought in, "a kid from the East Coast league," as a goaltender. That kid, of course, is Mike Brodeur. Things started to turn around after that and it was acknowledged by the GM.

He mentioned that a few weeks ago, "Curt (Styres - owner), Lewis (Staats - president), Jody (Gage - Amerks' GM)" and the Florida staff, "had a meeting to really put in place a plan that would help us develop a winning team and help us be a more successful team."

So next year's plan? It includes such things as signing Mike Brodeur; veterans, veterans and more veterans, and it will also see the Amerks' ownership opening up their checkbook wide to help Florida bring in those players.

Here are a few of the quotes that I was able to get in between freezes, crashes and silence. Each is from Jacques Martin.

"We're trying to make sure we get the goaltending resolved for next season. We have people in place that will be able to do the job. . . Goaltending shouldn't be an issue. I thought Mr. Brodeur did a good job and our plan is to get him under contract next year for this organization."

"We need to acquire more veteran players. That's not an easy task. Sometimes players have options with another organization, or a lot of players may opt to go to Europe. Our scouting staff has been identifying players that we feel will be able to help us next year. We've made a list of players. We feel we need to bring maybe four veteran forwards to fill in our top six forwards."

"We had some disappoitnment with some of our younger players. We've got four excellent young prospects on defense - Ellerby, Garrison, Henry, Caruso. We feel they're all individuals that will eventually play at the NHL level and we feel that they're on the right track."

"As for forwards, certain players didn't meet our expectations. When we looked at our roster, we're probably looking at acquiring four forwards that could play in our top six and another forward and defenseman that we could call veteran players or role players."

"The one thing that we realize this year is that we need to have more veterans in our lineup."

"Another area we feel will help is to expand our training camp. We will get to see more players that are playing in the East Coast league and get a better knowledge of the players that we could call up and fill those roles (after injuries)."

So, there you have it. Signing Brodeur, four veteran forwards, a veteran defenseman, returning coaching staff, an enforcer and Styres will be spending more money to make sure these things happen.

2009-04-08T00:18:00.012-04:00

Florida's playoff hopes were dealt a serious blow tonight as the Cats lost to Philadelphia while the Rangers overcame the Canadiens and pulled back to two points ahead of the Panthers - with two games to play.

It's worth noting that the Panthers played a good game, they simply could not finish on their chances. Vokoun allowed a soft goal to give the Flyers the lead, but he said something about Craig Anderson after the 3-1 loss to Atlanta that is no less true tonight:

Andy didn't deserve to come out. We didn't score any goals and we lost.

He let in a goal that he will desperately want back, but he also kept quite a few out and as has been true of the Panthers' inconsistent offense this season, the goalies will either get a ton of help from the offense, or none at all.

No matter what, the Panthers have dug themselves quite a hole here. So, cross your fingers.

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

This next bit might not read clearly. In looking back at it now, having typed it up a minute ago, I noticed that I started to simply type stream of thought. But, I tried to keep it clear. (I added colours so now it looks a little less cluttered. If the record is in red, Florida can't catch the team. If it's green, there is a possibility.)

Anyway, it's just a quick overview of the best-case scenarios for getting the Cats in to the playoffs, based on each possible outcome for the Rangers and Canadiens on the schedule.

New York's maximum point total (based on two remaining games): 95
Florida's maximum point total (based on two remaining games): 93

New York (Current: 91)

2-0-0: (95 points) Florida can not catch.
1-0-1: (94 points) Florida can not catch.
1-1-0: (93 points) Even going 2-0, Florida would have 41 wins to New York's 42. No good.
0-0-2: (93 points) Florida has to win both games. Both teams have 41 wins in this scenario, forcing a second tiebreaker (season series). Florida won the series 3-0-1. Florida passes New York.
0-1-1: (92 points) Florida has to win both games, finishing one point ahead of New York.
0-2-0: (91 points) Florida has to pick up a minimum of three points (2-0-0, 1-0-1). One regulation loss (1-1-0, 0-1-1) and New York is in.

So to summarize, Florida can not lose in regulation and while they really should be focusing on winning both games, they also have to win at least one and must pick up at least one point in the other game.

Montreal's maximum point total (based on two remaining games): 96
Florida's maximum point total (based on two remaining games): 93

Montreal (Current: 92)

2-0-0: (96 points) Florida can't catch.
1-0-1: (95 points) Florida can't catch.
1-1-0: (94 points) Florida can't catch.
0-0-2: (94 points) Florida can't catch.
0-1-1: (93 points) Even if Florida won both games, both teams would have 41 wins and 93 points. Montreal won the season series, 2-1-1. Florida would not make it.
0-2-0: (92 points) Florida must win both games. Three points would result in a tie and Montreal would win through tiebreaker. Only a 2-0-0 record gets Florida in, in this scenario.

What if Montreal and New York both went 0-2-0 and Florida won out?

Well, then Florida would be the seventh seed, the Canadiens would be eighth and the Rangers would be out. The Cats would face the Washington Capitals in the first round.

There's still hope, albeit slim, for the Panthers to break through and get in there, so as hard as it may be, don't write these guys off just yet.

2009-04-07T16:56:00.004-04:00

I wrote yesterday that this was going to be carried live at the Amerks' website. It may still be, but you'll definitely be able to find it at DemocratandChronicle.com. The meeting, which will outline plans for next season's Amerks roster, is scheduled to start at 12:30 PM. The D&C will start the stream a few minutes prior.

I'm hoping to some extent, the discussion will lend some insight in to the objectives for the Panthers, but even if it doesn't, as long as my internet doesn't randomly get disconnected or the house burns down, I'll be sure to write down what I can. And whatever I may miss, I'm sure that it will be covered at LetsGoAmerks.com and Kevin O's blog.

P.S. Luke Beaverson has been recalled by the Panthers and is headed back up north to Rochester.

2009-04-06T18:14:00.006-04:00

Strike one for next year's veterans in Rochester.

Karl Stewart, the 25-year old forward that joined the Amerks after the season started and provided a little bit of experience and stability on a team that sorely needed it, will not be returning to the team next season, whether an offer was in his future or not.

Not that he wouldn't have stayed had a deal been offered, but a contract was offered from Germany's Straubing Tigers and Stewart accepted, telling the D&C's Kevin Oklobzija, "What I went through last summer was what I'd call hockey-player hell. I had no NHL offers, no real tryouts, and no American League offers. I was training day in and day out and not knowing if I was going to be playing hockey or going back to school. I didn’t want to put myself through that again."

So that's a tough blow. Stewart is tied for the team lead in goals (18) and whether that's a bleak total for your scoring leader or not (Repik and Meyer both have 18 goals as well), he was certainly valuable to the team.

Stewart will finish up the season before moving on to Germany, so it's one more spot that will have to be filled this off-season.

Which leads me to the next tidbit:

Jacques Martin and Amerks' owner, Curt Styres, will be holding a press conference on Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 to discuss next season's roster and team make-up. I don't know if they'll be answering any questions from some of the fans in attendance that will undoubtedly have some critical points to make, but it appears as though the PC will be shown live on the team's website: www.amerks.com.

Among the points outlined, the promise that goaltending will not be an issue next season. Of course, this leads to all kinds of questions. Are they comfortable with Plante/Shantz? Is Brodeur getting a contract? What of Beckford-Tseu's second year? Did he become Superman overnight?

Maybe the most curious question that may arise there, "Is Florida going to pursue Jacob Markström?"

When Anders Lindbäck (Nashville prospect) wrapped up his season, he had a 2.57 GAA and a .916% in 24 games. The first thing I thought was, "Maybe they're going to try to convince Markström that he won't have to battle for that starter's role if he comes to Rochester," but I looked a little further and saw that Lindbäck left Brynäs late last month and has since signed a contract with Timrå, a club that has wanted the goaltender for a while now.

I'm pretty sure I've read that Brynäs had a third young goaltender with good upside, but with Lindbäck out of the picture, the starter's job is (I'm assuming, here) once again, Markström's to lose, so I'm not getting my hopes up, there.

If you're wondering what Jacob's up to these days and you've recently seen Linus Omark's nifty shootout goal against Switzerland, then you now know what Markström has been up to - he's with the Swedish national team as they prepare for the 2009 IIHF World Championship that begins later this month.

As for the current goaltenders with the Amerks, Miguel Beaudry, the goalie brought over from the Central Hockey League to back up David Shantz, has been released. Mike Brodeur isn't ready to go, and although Tyler Plante's visit with Panthers' doctors turned up nothing serious, Chris Beckford-Tseu will be back with the club for the rest of the season - which ends this weekend with three games in four nights.

2009-04-03T02:25:00.001-04:00

One player from each team can be nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, and for the Florida Panthers, to no surprise, the nomination goes to Richard Zednik.

The award is given out annually to the player who "best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey." Bouncing right back from a life-threatening injury is impressive enough. Coming back to have the season he's had - 17 goals and 15 assists, the most points he's had since the lockout - is even more amazing.

There's a much longer article about the nomination at the Panthers' site. Check it out, if you'd like.

Quite a few players deserve strong consideration for the award this season. Without a doubt, Richard Zednik is among them. I'd think that, in no particular order and with Zednik included, Patrice Bergeron, Teppo Numminen and Steve Sullivan would garner the most attention. Kurtis Foster, who hasn't officially been nominated yet as Minnesota's candidate, will likely receive some consideration as well after recovering from a broken femur suffered in a game last season.

The Northwest division selections will be announced today and the Pacific will be on Monday.

2009-04-03T01:19:00.005-04:00

Goaltender Mike Brodeur is still nursing an abdominal injury and while he practiced with Rochester on Thursday, he will not be playing tomorrow night when the Amers host the Binghamton Senators for the final time this season. At the same time, Tyler Plante is meeting with doctors here in Florida to get to the bottom of a shoulder injury that has seemingly resurfaced this season. Last year, Plante underwent surgery for his shoulder as well.

So with those two out and Shantz still with the club, someone has to be the backup, and it won't be Chris Beckford-Tseu. Instead, the Amerks are bringing in a goaltender from the Central Hockey League: Miguel Beaudry. But, as Kevin O writes, it doesn't necessarily mean that Florida and Rochester simply wish to cut ties with CBT. Sure, they may, but he makes some solid points about why Beckford-Tseu will be staying in the ECHL at this point in time:

The CHL regular season is over, so bringing in Beaudry didn’t disrupt anyone else’s season. He’s only coming here because he might be needed as a backup. It wouldn’t be right for a going-nowhere AHL can’t inconvenience a team from another league (even if Phoenix is out of the playoffs) just because it needs a backup goalie.

As for the aforementioned 'Beaudry', the goaltender coming in is Miguel Beaudry of the CHL's newest expansion team, Rapid City Rush. Beaudry was never drafted by an NHL club and after his OHL career had ended, he signed with the New Mexico Scorpions of the CHL. Now a month shy of his 26th birthday, he's been there ever since.

Yet one can't help but wonder if Beckford-Tseu would have been recalled, anyway. He's had a very tough season and after going from the AHL to the ECHL, his numbers have actually gotten worse. In ten games with the ECHL's Phoenix Roadrunners, the 24-year-old goalie has posted a 2-7-1 record with a GAA of 5.00 and an .862 save percentage.

In other news, the Carolina Hurricanes scored twice in twenty-eight seconds in the third period tonight to knock the Rangers off in regulation. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens picked up a big win against the Islanders and have vaulted themselves ahead of the Blueshirts. Now, in a perfect world, Florida's game in hand on the Rangers could potentially serve to level the playing field tomorrow night and knot the Cats and Rangers up at 89 points apiece, but the Thrashers are no pushovers, especially with the way they've been playing lately.

2009-03-31T13:56:00.002-04:00

Matt Duffy has four points in the three games he's played since joining the Rochester Americans and he's also played in two games with the Everblades. As the season winds down for many of the Amerks, however, for Duffy, a new one may be beginning.

From Rochester, Jacob Micflikier has already headed south to join the 'Blades and get ready for the playoffs while Matt Duffy may not be too far behind. Obviously, he's been impressive in his pro start and keeping him in games is really going to help him get some confidence as he moves forward. If the decision is made to reassign him to the Everblades, I'd imagine that the Panthers are looking at signing him to an entry-level deal this summer.

In the same 'Lets Go Amerks' article, goalie Tyler Plante's shoulder injury was mentioned and described as possibly ending his season just a little bit early. This is the second season in a row in which he's been bothered by his shoulder.

2009-03-30T19:27:00.006-04:00

Although Markström came up short in the rookie of the year, he was certainly one of the players that received consideration. The honour went instead to MODO's Victor Hedman.

Hedman had 21 points this season and could still be selected first overall in this summer's entry draft. Here's a bit of what he said:

I have always thought that Jacob would win that title, but of course I am very satisfied and pleased.

Anyway, last week, the Amerks finally snapped an eight game losing streak by beating Syracuse and then followed up a few days later with a win against Albany. Since then, Rochester has dropped two straight, with David Shantz playing in the latter of the two having been recalled from Dayton a few hours earlier.

Shantz, on the short-notice call-up, arrived less than an hour before gametime and only managed to get suited up in the minutes leading up to the start. He went on to stop 50 of 52 Binghamton shots. Rochester piled on 37 of their own, but the B-Sens won comfortably in the shootout, scoring on all three opportunities. Rochester sent out Parnham, Sprukts and Brine, each to no avail.

If you want to read the whole crazy story about Shantz's day, you can find it here.

Lastly, Panthers' prospects gunning for a national championship will have to try again next season. Of the four teams that made the tournament with at least one Cats' prospect on the roster, only New Hampshire made it past the first round.

Ohio State was routed by Boston University, 8-3. Defenseman Matt Bartkowski scored for the Buckeyes, however, and with 41 games under his belt in his rookie season, he finished with five goals and fifteen assists. Not too shabby for a seventh round selection.

North Dakota, playing without Derrick Lapoint, who broke his tibia and fibula in a game last month, took on New Hampshire in the opening round. For the UNH Wildcats, goaltender Brian Foster stopped 40 of 45 shots in a back-and-forth thriller that needed extra time to settle. Ultimately, New Hampshire came away with the win.

They advanced to the second round but fell to Boston University, 2-1. Foster stopped 21 of 23. On the season, the Panthers' fifth round pick from 2005 finished up 19-11-4 with three shutouts, a goals against average of 2.68 and a .910 save percentage.

Heading back to the first round, you'll see that the Denver Pioneers were eliminated by the Miami Redhawks (Ohio). The shot count favored Miami 29-18 and with it, the goals favoured the Redhawks as well. Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie surrendered four goals and freshman defenseman John Lee was a -1. The final score, 4-2.

Cheverie, like Foster, had been playing his first season as a starter. While Foster is now a junior, Cheverie is a sophomore. A seventh round pick in 2006, "Chevy" racked up a 23-12-5 record, along with a 2.34 GAA and a .921% save percentage. Lee, a fifth round pick in '07 and the younger brother of Ottawa Senators' defenseman Brian Lee, posted five assists as a freshman.

2009-03-21T07:46:00.003-04:00

Well, the plan of having Matt Duffy play for Rochester last night didn't quite go as expected. Instead, the defenseman was sent to play with the Florida Everblades for two games this weekend.

From there, he will be returning to the Amerks.

Last night, Duffy had two shots and was a -1 in his pro debut with the 'Blades as they played to a 4-3 shootout win over the Charlotte Checkers. The game was a strange one with all six regulation goals coming in the third period, with Florida outshooting the Checkers, 56-41.

As for Parnham, he was not in the line-up for Rochester's 5-2 loss to the Syracuse Crunch. With that, the Amerks have now lost eighth in a row.

2009-03-20T01:32:00.002-04:00

The Panthers got a big win tonight. One that helped them in the standings, and one that helped them put the losing streak behind and look forward. Every game counts, especially when you've games in hand that must be won.

Things worked out for the Cats. Stephen Weiss broke through and scored a nice shorthanded goal on Martin Gerber, and later on, Richard Zednik and Ville Peltonen added tallies of their own.

Tomas Vokoun made 37 saves, including a key stop in the final minute that slammed the door on the Leafs' attempt to rally late, and Florida moved back to within a point of the eighth and final playoff spot.

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

Florida hosts the Blue Jackets on Saturday night. Columbus is on track to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, and they're doing it with the help of a 20-year old goaltender named Steve Mason. Mason has 29 wins on the season, a 2.25 GAA, save percentage of .918 - and nine shutouts. Ed Belfour was the last goaltender to win the Vezina and the Calder upon entering the league, but Mason has a chance to do that this year.

2009-03-19T01:21:00.003-04:00

The Panthers' fourth-round pick from 2005, Matt Duffy, who was a fixture on the Maine Black Bears' blueline for four years, has finished his college career after a loss to Boston University last weekend.

But, that doesn't mean his season is over.

This is the point in the hockey season where those graduating seniors start to sign amateur tryouts in the American Hockey League, and Duffy has done just that.

Duffy, who will turn 23 on Saturday, is set to join the Rochester Americans this week, along with Brett Parnham, an undrafted center from the OHL's Oshawa Generals.

Parnham played in 65 games with Oshawa this season and scored 50 goals while tallying 26 assists. The 20 year-old center improved his numbers with each season, and although he's only 5'9", Kevin Oklobzija says that he apparently has great hands. So good luck to him, there.

As for Duffy, the 6'2" native of Windham, Maine, made sure the last year of his college career was a good one, setting a career high in goals (7) and assists (10), and by extension, points (17). Overall, Duffy played in 135 games with Maine. His defense was solid, and as one of only four seniors on a young squad, provided the freshmen and sophomores with experience and leadership.

Duffy is expected to practice with the team on Thursday and play in Friday night's game against Syracuse. As Rochester's season winds down, there's also the chance that the defenseman is sent to play with the Florida Everblades as they head in to the ECHL playoffs.

No matter what, Duffy is still set to graduate in May.

Here are two quick news releases that I found from local stations in Maine:

WMTV
WABI

2009-03-18T02:27:00.004-04:00

First, congratulations to Martin Brodeur for becoming the NHL's all-time winningest goaltender. He's one of the best to have ever played the game, and it's a record he's absolutely earned. If you didn't watch the game, or couldn't, here's the final eight seconds of regulation and the celebration that followed: Brodeur Wins #552

As for the Panthers, there is nothing to celebrate. Florida's spoiled one of the games that they have in hand on a couple teams ahead of them, and they managed to do it in an abysmal performance, including a desperate third period with a whopping zero shots on goal. Not one single shot in the third period of a must, must-win game. Final score: 3-0, Washington.

"I don’t have an explanation for it," said Panthers coach Peter DeBoer after the game. "There's been very few nights this year I've questioned our effort level. It's not always pretty, we haven't always won, but usually we've brought a good desperation level and the effort has always been there. Tonight, it was questionable, which is disappointing."

If you're in the mood to depress yourself:

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

The Panthers host Toronto on Thursday night, in what is almost assuredly the biggest must-win this team has had in nearly a decade.

2009-03-16T14:26:00.004-04:00

We'll go back two weeks, first, to cover the CCHA playoff round that preceded this weekend's quarterfinals.

Concerning the Panthers, Ohio State took on Bowling Green while Western Michigan hosted Lake Superior.

In game one of the Ohio State/Bowling Green series, the Buckeyes, playing without Matt Bartkowski, skated to a 5-4 win. The following night, Bartkowski had a goal and an assist in OSU's 7-1 trouncing over Bowling Green.

Western Michigan needed three games, but they too, advanced to the CCHA quarterfinal with Ryan Watson playing in two of the three.

The two remaining series saw Northern Michigan eliminate Michigan State, while Ferris State was knocked off by Nebraska-Omaha.

Moving ahead to this past weekend, the WCHA, CCHA and Hockey East all played out their quarter-final series.

Michigan and Western Michigan were put head-to-head right away, however, so one of the Cats' prospects had to see his season come to an end. Matt Rust made sure it wasn't him.

In the two games, Rust scored two goals and added two assists, while Michigan advanced to the semi-final with a pair of decisive victories (5-2, 6-1). They take on Alaska next weekend.

Notre Dame eliminated Nebraska with two shutouts and they'll host Northern Michigan.

****

In the WCHA, Denver took on Alaska-Anchorage in the opening round, and in the first game, after falling behind 2-0, the Pioneers rallied to score three times en route to a 3-2 victory. Marc Cheverie was in net, and stopped 19 of 21. John Lee was on the ice to start the game, as well. The next night, Denver was the team outshot by a considerable margin, and the goals were back and forth right to the end. But again, the Pioneers came out on top, 4-3, while Chevy stopped 31 of 34.

Denver will take on Wisconsin next weekend.

Wrapping up the WCHA's weekend, Minnesota eliminated St. Cloud State, Wisconsin eliminated Minnesota State, Minnesota-Dultuh knocked off Colorado College and North Dakota defeated Michigan Tech.

****

Lastly, but not least, of course, Hockey East.

Maine was a longshot to beat Boston University, and while they didn't, they did manage to force the series to a third game with a big 6-3 win on Saturday. Over the first two games, Matt Duffy had three assists, although the third game was all Boston University - scoring six in the first two periods, and holding out for a 6-2 win.

The loss wraps up Maine's season, although Duffy could always join Rochester on an amateur tryout, now that his college career has ended. Either way, we move on to New Hampshire.

But, no. The news is no better.

UNH was beaten in two games by Boston College, with Brian Foster first stopping 24 of 29 in a 5-3 loss and then lost 1-0 on 23 shots.

2009-03-15T20:29:00.002-04:00

The NCAA tournament is nearly here, and the playoffs are heating up. Ohio State is taking on Alaska at the moment, with the winner moving to the CCHA semi-final. But, it's not the only series this weekend, and tomorrow morning (or early in the afternoon), I'll try to make sure you're caught up on where everyone stands.

2009-03-14T12:28:00.003-04:00

Finally. Michal Repik was sent back to Rochester after being called up for the Sabres game on Thursday night, and I know a lot of people wondered why the forward, who scored Florida's lone goal was being sent back.

Well, now you know.

Olesz, who has missed significant time consistently in his Panthers' career is coming off of surgery for a sports hernia that kept him out for months, last playing on December 4th against Buffalo.

More importantly, the Panthers need to win tonight's game. Both the Rangers and Penguins have games this afternoon, New York is in Philadelphia at 1PM and Pittsburgh hosts Ottawa at 3:00. Two points separate the sixth place Penguins from the ninth place Panthers, so the standings have the potential to change quite a bit by the end of the day, and one can only hope that it's good for the Cats.

2009-03-12T11:41:00.003-04:00

The Panthers recalled winger Michal Repik from the Rochester Americans today. Keaton Ellerby had been occupying the 23rd roster spot, but he was sent back to Rochester after the Penguins game. Although, if Jassen Cullimore is still ready to leave at a moment's notice, they're not exactly far from Rochester today. So we'll see if anything else happens there. Whether it does or not, though, you have to think Repik's call-up is simply to play.

Over in Sweden, Jacob Markström got to play game four of the quarterfinal, but the eventual outcome was no different than Anders Lindbäck's three previous starts: Brynäs lost. Only this time, the series is over.

Markström played well, making key saves and turned aside 26 of 28, but his team could only get one by Jonas Gustavsson and that means the season for Brynäs is over.

But for the 19-year old goaltender, surgery may be in his future to repair the meniscus in his knee. Since the WJC, doctors twice have drained the knee to reduce swelling, and now with the season over, they will look more in-depth and attempt to keep it from happening again.

2009-03-10T14:23:00.002-04:00

Jassen Cullimore could still leave at any time to be with his expectant wife, so as was the case last week, Keaton Ellerby is with the team in Pittsburgh tonight, just in case.

2009-03-09T11:27:00.003-04:00

The Miami Herald is reporting that Nathan Horton suffered a broken ring finger on Saturday night, and after undergoing surgery following the game, will be out for two to four weeks.

Brian McCabe didn't skate today, either. He broke his nose and fractured his orbital bone after being hit with a puck on Saturday, although he only missed a couple shifts before getting back on the ice.

Timing is everything.

2009-03-07T22:16:00.004-05:00

With tonight's 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues, the Panthers have moved ahead of the Montreal Canadiens to take the fifth spot in the conference with 76 points. Granted, the Habs have now played one fewer game than the Cats.

Buffalo lost to Ottawa, which keeps the Sabres at 73 points, but Carolina's big 9-3 win over Tampa Bay has the Hurricanes up to sixth.

For the Panthers, it was Tomas Vokoun's 500th career game and what better way to remember it than with a big win, capped off with David Booth's second hat trick of the season - the first was back in November against the Ducks.

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

Brynäs played again today and lost, unfortunately. Anders Lindbäck played very well again, while Rochester dropped their second in as many days to Lake Erie, a team they needed to beat to have a shot at improving their spot in the standings. The losses hurt, and shots tonight were lopsided in favour of the Monsters.

By the way, don't forget that the time change is tonight at 2AM. Spring forward, fall back and all that jazz.

2009-03-06T10:49:00.004-05:00

It's March, and that means it's time to get ready for college hockey's playoffs and the tournament that follows.

In the CCHA, the Panthers hold rights to three players: Matt Rust (Michigan), Matt Bartkowski (Ohio State) and Ryan Watson (Western Michigan).

Of the three, only Michigan has secured a spot in next week's best-of-three CCHA Quarter-final. There are twelve teams in the CCHA, and only the top four earn a trip straight to the quarter-final, while the remaining eight clubs split off in to four best-of-three series that run tonight through Sunday.

Ohio State has home ice as they take on Bowling Green, a team that they played twice this season on the road. Both games were victories for the OSU Buckeyes. In that weekend series, freshman blueliner Matt Bartkowski was on the top pairing both nights, registering an assist in the first of the two contests. Bartkowski's regular season was a good one. His three goals and thirteen assists among defensemen trailed only to sophomore Islanders' prospect Shane Sims, and he was named CCHA Rookie of the Week twice - first on October 27th, 2008 and then again on January 19, 2009. Bartkowski was drafted in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in the seventh round, 190th overall.

Moving forward, Western Michigan has home ice as well. They're hosting Lake Superior, and in their weekend series this season, the two teams played to a split. Lake Superior won the first game 7-4, while Western Michigan picked up the second by a score of 4-1. In both games, Ryan Watson centered Western Michigan's fouth line. Watson's ice time was limited all year and he's been relied on as a penalty killer for the most part, finishing the season with four goals and two assists. Two points fewer than last year. Watson, like Bartkowski, was a seventh round selection of the Panthers, being drafted 191st overall in 2007.

That only leaves the Michigan Wolverines, but being ranked third in the nation gives them a week off, and I'm not sure which of the series winners they'll be taking on next weekend. As for Matt Rust, while his numbers dropped this season, he was a great penalty killer and face-off man throughout, making his presence known in his second World Junior Championship this past winter. Rust was drafted in 2007 during the fourth round, 101st overall.

In the WCHA, this weekend is the end of the regular season, and while both North Dakota (Derrick Lapoint, though he's done for the season) and Denver (John Lee, Marc Cheverie) have clinched home playoff berths, the two teams are also only separated by one point in the standings as they strive for the regular season title. They aren't playing each other this weekend, but North Dakota's opponent, Wisconsin (ranked 19th in the NCAA) has a chance to move up to third in the standings and secure home ice in the playoffs, while Denver takes on the defending MacNaughton Cup winner, Colorado College, in a game that Denver needs at least a tie to have a shot at the title. Colorado College, on the other hand, can secure home ice with a win of their own. So it's a pretty tight race.

For the Denver Pioneers, you can't help but be impressed with goaltender Marc Cheverie. He was recently named WCHA Player of the Week for the third time this season, and at the time, he was leading all goaltenders in minutes played (1,902), while he was second in save percentage (.918) and winning percentage (.656) and third in goals against average (2.43). Those numbers are not final, though, as Denver still has a game to play tonight.

Also on Denver, defenseman John Lee. The freshman is the younger brother of Ottawa Senators' prospect Brian Lee, although the two are quite different. Lee played regularly, starting on the top some nights and playing on the third pairing on others, with plenty of time in between. Offensively, he hasn't done much, accumulating five assists on the year, but as he has progressed defensively, he's found other ways to contribute to the success of his team and, undoubtedly, has had a hand in helping them to #5 in the nation.

To North Dakota, Florida's prospect is Derrick LaPoint but unfortunately, Derrick's season ended last month when he suffered a broken tibia and fibula when his skate caught the boards after being checked by Minnesota-State's Trevor Bruess.

All that leaves is Brian Foster and Matt Duffy, playing for New Hampshire and Maine, respectively. Maine has had a tough season, although New Hampshire is near the top of Hockey East.

New Hampshire's final weekend series stands only to affect their ranking. They are where they need to be, and while it's always good to want to be better, they will be joining the teams already mentioned as teams that have a chance win it all this season. Brian Foster has had a strong year in net for the Wildcats, and although an injury set him back early on in the season, he's recovered strongly. In fact, Foster was named Itech's Goaltender of the Month for February after he went 6-1-1 with a 1.86 GAA and a .932%. Foster also received the honour back in October, joining undrafted goalies Kieran Millan and Brad Thiessen as the only three to earn the recognition all season. Along with this, Foster has been named defensive player of the week on two occasions.

As for Maine, it was a long season, but one that isn't completely closed up and finished, yet. Senior defenseman Matt Duffy has career highs in goals (7) and assists (7), along with points (14) and penalty minutes (46). Duffy has been solid for Maine, providing leadership and experience in most all situations and was recently named one of the alternate captains for the team. After this weekend's games, Maine will advance to the Hockey East tournament as the eighth seed and take on either Boston University or Northeastern. But the Black Bears did manage a tie against Boston last month while they were ranked #1 in the nation.

2009-03-06T10:01:00.002-05:00

Last night, the Panthers had a chance to hop over the Montreal Canadiens and take fifth place while adding some distance between themselves and the Penguins and Rangers.

Pittsburgh had other plans, though.

After losing 4-1, Florida remains in sixth, but with New York and Pittsburgh picking up wins, the teams now share a three-way tie for the sixth spot. Florida and New York have a game in hand on Pittsburgh, although with the way the Pens have played since firing Michel Therrien, that may not matter much.

There is a gap from eighth to ninth, but it's minimal (only three points), and while the Panthers and Rangers have a game in hand over the Penguins, the Buffalo Sabres have a game in hand on the teams from New York and Florida. And unlike Florida, New York and Pittsburgh, Buffalo's on the outside looking in, and to get there, someone has to fall off.

Carolina is tied with Buffalo at 71 points, but have as many wins as the Panthers (33). The difference being the single points awarded for overtime and shootout losses.

After that, there is a bit of a drop to Toronto (65 points) and then again to Ottawa (58) and down through the last place Islanders (47).

With Philadelphia four points ahead of Montreal and with only 63 games played, it would look to be a race between six teams with only four spots available.

So on to the recap and the like, courtesy of the Panthers and NHL.com:

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

Earlier in the day (yes, evening in Sweden), Brynäs opened up their quarter-final against Färjestad at home. The start was given to Anders Lindbäck, while Jacob Markström sat on the bench.

I know he's struggled lately, but with work and some other things, I fell off a bit on keeping tabs, so I've had to rely on a number of Swedish sites -- and Google's translator -- to help me out a bit. If it translated Aftonbladet's article correctly, Markström has only won one of his last ten starts.

Nevertheless, Brynäs played a close game, falling 2-0. The second goal came on an empty net, so it was closer than you'd think by looking at that.

Lindbäck stopped 20 of 21, so I don't see why he wouldn't get the start again tomorrow.

Rochester hasn't played since Sunday, but they're back in action tonight.

As for college, the playoffs are starting and I'll write some more about that this afternoon.

2009-03-04T19:04:00.005-05:00

First things first, the injury updates:

According to George Richards, Rostislav Olesz should be back at practice tomorrow and likely back in the lineup in two weeks. Afterwards, Olesz spoke with Steve Gorten of the Sun-Sentinel:

For the first day, it wasn't bad. You're just getting back. But sometimes I felt it. It's not ready yet. But it's good I can start practicing with the team because it will help my recovery. It's going right now the way we wanted. So hopefully nothing will change and I'll be back in less than two weeks.

As for David Booth, he is "probable".

Gorten has some quotes from Bouwmeester and Eminger, as well.

First up, Jay Bouwmeester:

I'm happy. We've had a good little run here. Things are looking up. Everyone's looking forward to making the playoffs. . . You just don't have to deal with it, I guess. It's good to put everything behind you and focus on playing hockey. It's kind of what I've been doing all along, but it's just one less pain in the butt. . . I had a feeling nothing was going to happen. . . If something happened, then you deal with it, but I wasn't sitting there just worrying about it. . . Everyone's excited. It's a position we haven't been in for a long time. . . It's a lot more fun to be in a position like this where there's a real light at the end of the tunnel.

Steve Eminger:

Things were going really good in Tampa personally. The team, yeah, we were pretty far back there, but I enjoyed my time there and I'm really excited to be here and in the playoff picture again. In Tampa that was the last thing on our minds. We were already gearing up for next year. . . [Being familiar with Deboer] helps. I kind of know a little of how he coaches from the past. But saying that, you're not going to take advantage of anything. You're going to play the way you can and play hard every game. . . I'm excited to be here as well. I was already traded from Philly to Tampa. As a player, you don't want to be considered a guy that's traded all over the place, but to come to a situation like this was a great situation for myself. I'm excited to get going.

There is more in Gorten's blog about Noah Welch courtesy of a reporter over in Tampa. Welch didn't want to be a distraction here, and so he apparently never questioned his lack of ice time. Hopefully, like Cory Murphy, Welch will get a real second chance over there and make the most of it.

2009-03-04T15:34:00.007-05:00

Well after the 3PM deadline, with last-minute trades still trickling through, Florida got in on the action by trading with Tampa Bay.

The deal has sent defenseman Noah Welch and a third round pick to the Lightning for RFA defenseman Steve Eminger.

Florida only has 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th round picks remaining.

Still, the more I think about this deal, the more I like it. I'm not a fan of fewer draft picks, but as long as you make the most of the ones you have, you're alright. And if the indications remain unchanged and Bouwmeester is out after this season, you still have a chance to find out where he's willing to go and maybe get a conditional pick for dealing his rights after the season. So they may still recoup some picks, or maybe they'll add another player.

But as for Eminger, he's replacing Welch as the seventh defenseman, unless that role has fallen to Nick Boynton. Regardless of this, however, Eminger is an addition that probably won't disrupt team chemistry at all. In fact, he should fit in pretty nicely.

Eminger played for the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL before Peter DeBoer became head coach. DeBoer was with Plymouth when Eminger joined the Rangers, but DeBoer eventually became head coach in Kitchener. So DeBoer knows how Eminger plays, and Eminger respects DeBoer a great deal:

I give a huge amount of credit to (DeBoer) and (associate coach) Steve Spott, they're a big part of my change from last season. My discipline and focus on and off the ice is so much better. That is what they both really stress. And they want to make sure every player has a commitment.

Eminger brings a great attitude and that's going to help him adjust quickly. He knows how to play DeBoer's style, and next year, he'll be able to start with plenty of experience with Florida under his belt.

More than that, Eminger was teammates with Gregory Campbell during DeBoer's tenure, and while there, the three won a Memorial Cup in 2003.

Not to mention, he's actually younger than Noah Welch.

A 25-year old restricted free agent, Eminger is making $1.2M this season. That gives the Panthers a bit to work with next year, assuming he doesn't make an outrageous demand.

2009-03-04T08:42:00.006-05:00

Was yesterday the last game of Jay Bouwmeester's career as a Panther? Is Nick Boynton gone? What about Craig Anderson? Will anything happen at all?

The rumours have Anaheim Ducks' defenseman Chris Pronger off the market, and Tomas Kaberle missed the third period of last night's game with an apparent hand injury. He's having x-rays taken at a hospital today. Naturally, anything can happen, but with those two moving out of the picture, does Bouwmeester become even more of a must-have for GMs around the league?

Yesterday, Team 1200 in Ottawa claimed that the Vancouver Canucks were competing with the Philadelphia Flyers for Bouwmeester, and earlier in the week, the Flyers (reportedly) upped their offer to get the defenseman. The salary cap comes in to play, however, and that means that Philadelphia would have to part with a large salary to even make a trade possible. The rumour was initially reported as winger Joffrey Lupul ($2.3M this season, $4.25M after that) and the 2nd overall pick from 2007, James vanRiemsdyk (college prospect not yet signed).

Jacques Martin is in a tough spot. Trading Bouwmeester just to avoid losing him for nothing may not bring back a return that helps get the Panthers in to the playoffs, and the playoffs are the plan. So unless a deal is too good to pass up, the Panthers will likely keep Bouwmeester on board.

And now, the deadline has passed. Bouwmeester remains a Panther and, unless something has not been reported, everyone else will remain as well.

2009-03-04T08:23:00.002-05:00

The Panthers weren't ready for the jump that Atlanta had in the first period yesterday, and it put the Thrashers on top 1-0 and then 2-1, but three goals in the second period gave the Panthers the cushion that they needed to pick up the win.

Michael Frolik scored twice for the second time this season, improving his goal total to 17 and he was set up for a hat trick, but a broken stick kept that out of the plans. During the game though, a little trivia was dropped on Panther fans about rookies and goals in a game. Back in 1998 - before Pavel Bure - Mark Parrish became the first player in team history to score four goals in one game. At the time, he was a rookie, and that mark still stands.

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

With the win, the Cats improve to 33-23-8 and improve their total to 74 points and that's good for sixth in the East. One spot - and one point - ahead, are the Canadiens. Montreal, however, has played only 63 games while Florida has played in 64.

2009-03-03T10:58:00.004-05:00

Brynäs will start off the playoffs against top-seeded Färjestad on Thursday night after the #1 team opted to play against #7 Brynäs instead of #8 Timrå.

Interestingly enough, Färjestad had a better record on the season against Timrå (4-1) than they did against Brynäs (3-1-1), although FBK closed the regular season out on February 28th by beating Brynäs, 3-1.

If you go all the way back to the start of the season and look over the whole series, it was a pretty good one.

Jacob Markström helped Brynäs to a 3-2 win by stopping 34 of 36 shots back in September, but a month later, the then 18-year-old goaltender surrendered five goals on 37 shots in a 5-1 loss.

The teams played to a draw in November, both scoring twice, and then during the World Junior Championship, Anders Lindbäck turned aside 32 of 35 in a 3-2 loss.

In the final game of the season, Markström was back in net, but three goals on thirty shots put Färjestad on top, 3-1.

So altogether on the season, Brynäs has been outscored by FBK, 13-7.

The quarter-final, once again, begins as a home game for Brynäs on Thursday at Läkerol Arena.

2009-03-03T10:26:00.003-05:00

No, not because Bouwmeester has been traded. Although, you never know.

Apparently, however, Jassen Cullimore's wife is expecting, and should Cullimore need to head home prior to game-time, Ellerby will be in Atlanta just in case.

Ellerby was a first round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2007, taken tenth overall. He got off to a rough start in the AHL and struggled to adjust from junior hockey, but he's steadily improved all season and has become a solid defender with Rochester. At 6'4", 190, he's still a lanky kid, but in the WHL, Ellerby was a physical defenseman and he's got the frame to carry that to the NHL.

While scoreless on the year in Rochester, Keaton has fifteen assists.

2009-03-02T18:32:00.003-05:00

Work is for quitters, anyway. I guess my purpose as 'office manager' was simply to get things in order so that I could be laid off a week later once a direction was established and some organization put in place.

To think, the Blockbuster job I could have had - just a standard in-store job, would have been the better choice? Who would have guessed that?

The deadline is Wednesday at 3PM and the Panthers have only one game left before that time. There have been all kinds of reports online about Bouwmeester of course, and others about Jacques Martin possibly expressing some interest in Ian Laperriere of the Avalanche, along with the white-hot excitement of wondering who Bill Guerin's mystery club will be. Alright, maybe it's not all that exciting. It's the only move JM plans on making and he wants to save it for deadline day so that people can get excited. But really, I have no idea what's going to happen between today and Wednesday afternoon with players on the Panthers. Aside from knowing about McCabe a month in advance, Martin's been pretty good at keeping things on the hush-hush.

He was in Philadelphia for two games and Flyers' GM Paul Holmgren confirmed that he did indeed express interest in Jay Bouwmeester, and so that's got people wondering about a package involving at least Joffrey Lupul, and a defenseman (Randy Jones or Matt Carle, due to Philly's position agaist the cap. Of course, deep down we're probably all saying, "If it has to be you, can you please give us Coburn? Who cares about the cap. You can figure it out later,") but oh well.

Then there's the Nick Boynton situation - if you didn't read it on George Richards' blog, or Steve Gorten, or some of the other places that ran it (most places ran it, because this close to the deadline, everything is a potential trade, even if it isn't) - now you can. Will Boynton be traded? I don't know. He has faded defensively as the season progressed and he started to make some boneheaded decisions, but for the most part, he has been a pretty decent defender with a physical element and a constant willingness to stick up for any and all of his teammates all the time. Down the stretch, you don't really want to give that up. Moving his cap hit (third highest among Panther defensemen) could help the Cats in another trade, though.

So there you have it. Rochester, by the way, picked up a win against former Ottawa Senators goaltender Martin Gerber yesterday. Gerber is now playing for the Senators' AHL affiliate in Binghamton.

The Amerks added three players during this hiatus of mine: Jarret Lukin, Judd Blackwater and Kyle Hagel.

Lukin is a 25-year-old center from Fort McMurray, Alberta who had been playing with the ECHL's Dayton Bombers. Lukin led the Bombers with 20 goals before joining the Amerks on a PTO and in two games, has two assists.

Blackwater is a 21-year-old center who previously had a brief nine-game stint with the AHL's Rockford IceHogs, scoring three goals in nine games. Also from Alberta (Lethbridge), Blackwater has a goal and an assist in three games.

Hagel is the lone defenseman of the three newcomers. He's 24 years old and a native of Hamilton, Ontario. He fought Rockford's Sean McMorrow on Valentine's Day.

Michal Repik leads the club with 38 points in 57 games, while Janis Sprukts has 37 in 48. Shawn Matthias has improved, and he's up to 10 goals and 17 total points, while both Mike Brodeur and Tyler Plante have played quite well. Plante has improved his numbers considerably, and while still being 5-9, he's brought his GAA down to 2.98 and his save percentage is up to .908%. Very impressive, considering that he was 0-5 with a 5.1 GAA and an .850%.

The same cannot be said for Chris Beckford-Tseu. CBT played only one game with the ECHL's Florida Everblades and conceded 5 goals on 35 shots. Now, he's playing with the Phoenix RoadRunners (also ECHL) and he's not doing any better. Though only three games, Beckford-Tseu is 1-2 with a 4.02 GAA and an .857%.

2009-03-01T18:50:00.002-05:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -Stephen Weiss, Bryan McCabe and Jay Bouwmeester scored power-play goals in the first period, Florida held Alex Ovechkin without a point until the final minute, and the Panthers beat the Southeast Division-leading Washington Capitals 6-2 Sunday.

McCabe finished with three assists, and Weiss had two. Florida's other goals were scored by rookie Michael Frolik, Richard Zednik and Jassen Cullimore.

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

2009-02-25T18:58:00.000-05:00

I just started a new job on Monday, and there's quite a bit of work to do to get things caught up, apparently. So updates will be slow again for a few days, but hopefully by the weekend or the start of the week, I'll have things in order and I'll be able to set up internet on the computer there.

So until then, go Panthers and thanks for reading through the lulls.

2009-02-21T22:54:00.004-05:00

Denver's Marc Cheverie is one of 69 student-athletes in the WCHA (both men and women) that will receive the WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award. According to the release:

To earn recognition as a WCHA Scholar-Athlete, conference-member student-athletes must have completed at least one year of residency at their present institution prior to the current academic year and must also have a grade-point average of at least 3.50 on a 4.0 scale for the previous two semesters or three quarters, or may qualify if his or her overall GPA is at least 3.50 for all terms at his or her present institution.

The Pioneers have three games remaining after tonight, and they were eighth in the nation's rankings coming in to this weekend.

Denver defeated Wisconsin in overtime last night and they are back in action now.

Cheverie entered tonight's game with an 18-9-4 record along with a 2.51 GAA and a .914%.

2009-02-21T22:20:00.002-05:00

Picking up his second shutout in three games, Tomas Vokoun helped the Panthers to a 2-0 win at home against the top team in the East.

Vokoun has six shutouts now on the year, and three in the last six games. Between he and Craig Anderson, Florida has nine shutouts.

The game was scoreless through two periods until Radek Dvorak put one away while shorthanded. Exactly five minutes later, he scored again - this time at even strength - and it was all the Panthers would need to hold out for the win.

Since January 1, the Cats are 14-5-3 and with the majority of today's games having gone final, sit sixth in the conference, although both Buffalo and New York (Rangers) also have 68 points. The difference is that Florida has played 59 games, while Buffalo and New York have played 60.

Florida will be right back at it against the Bruins on Tuesday. That game will be played in Boston.

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

Also today, Brynäs defeated Djurgården and moves six points ahead with three games remaining. Lindbäck played again. Both of these guys have been great for Brynäs this season, with Lindbäck posting a 2.55 GAA and a .914% in 21 games while Markström has, in 34 games, a 2.36 GAA and a .918%.

2009-02-21T01:32:00.006-05:00

Anders Lindbäck started for the third game in a row for Brynäs and he picked up a critical win against Södertälje in the process. I couldn't tell you when Jacob Markström will get back in there, but it certainly seems like Lindbäck's earning every game he gets. With only four games remaining in the regular season, the club has moved in to sole possession of eighth place, holding a three-point lead over Djurgården and they have a five-point edge on MODO.

Tomorrow (today?), Brynäs has a great opportunity to add some ground over Djurgården when the two teams face off at 4PM CET. I believe that's 10AM here on the east coast of Florida.

Skellefteå and Timrå have 74 and 75 points, respectively, so Brynäs will not only have a chance to build up some kind of safety net for making the playoffs, but with all three clubs in action, Brynäs could move up a spot or two.

I'll post some time tomorrow with an update on that.

Moving to the ECHL for a minute, my guess that Beckford-Tseu wouldn't start Wednesday night was the wrong one. He did indeed start the game for the Everblades, and ultimately, the 'Blades lost the game, 6-5.

CBT stopped 30 of 35, but allowed three goals in the third period which erased a 5-2 Florida lead, the last of which was a shorthanded penalty shot with just over a minute to play in the game. Charlotte scored and forced overtime. When the extra time failed to settle the game, the shootout did the trick. Although it took ten rounds. Florida scored on one of their ten shots, while the Checkers had 2.

They play tomorrow (today), as well.

Last bit I've got for now is that the Amerks knocked off the Hershey Bears tonight, 2-3. Kevin Oklobzija keeps updates through many of the games and he did again tonight, so if you'd like to read about that, you can head over to the D&C.

2009-02-19T17:57:00.002-05:00

The Florida Panthers today reassigned goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu to the ECHL's Florida Everblades.

Whatever confidence Beckford-Tseu may have had when the season started is long gone and more unfortunate is just how different the Amerks played with him in net. It was a team that, much like their goaltender, had no confidence.

So for CBT, hopefully the move will help him get his game on track and work on some things. It seems to have made a big difference with Tyler Plante, who effectively ousted Beckford-Tseu as the backup by coming up huge in relief of the injured Mike Brodeur.

Now, however, Brodeur is back and Plante is staying put. For Beckford-Tseu, the only option to keep playing would be reassignment.

The 'Blades play the Charlotte Checkers tonight at 7:00, although I wouldn't assume Beckford-Tseu will be starting, due to travel and the like.

In 22 games with Rochester, Beckford-Tseu went 3-14-1 while posting a 3.94 GAA and a save percentage of .868%.

2009-02-18T10:22:00.004-05:00

There are only five games remaining in the regular season over in Sweden and as of right now, Brynäs sits in ninth place. Of the twelve teams in the league, the top eight advance to playoffs, while teams in ninth and tenth do not. The bottom two clubs (11, 12) fall to a relegation tournament against the top teams from HockeyAllsvenskan - Sweden's second-tier league.

Brynäs started the season off tremendously, as did goaltender Jacob Markström. He struggled briefly before getting back to form and the club held at the middle of the pack for weeks.

When Markström left for the World Junior Championship in December, the duties were passed on to backup goalie Anders Lindbäck.

Lindbäck struggled the first two games, allowing 11 goals on 57 shots (.839%), and then played superbly the next two, stopping 79 of 81 (.975%). His strong play continued over the games that followed.

Markström returned and was rested, dressing as backup to Lindbäck on January 10. Brynäs lost the game, 5-4 and Markström would get the next start. He stopped 28 of 30 in a 2-1 loss to MODO on January 15th and then picked up a win against Frölunda two days later.

Facing Timrå a few days later, Brynäs was dominated. Markström conceded four goals on 38 shots, but his teammates combined only had 12 of their own. The following game, Markström faced 22 shots and stopped 20. The next game, he stopped 18 of 21. Maybe exhausted, or simply out of his groove, Markström was given a rest while Lindbäck eagerly awaited another opportunity.

Lindbäck stopped 44 of 46 in an overtime loss to Skellefteå in his next start. Markström took the next game and allowed four goals on twenty shots. Against Frölunda on February 10th, Markström faced 14 shots. Again, he gave up four goals.

Since then, Brynäs has played twice more, opting to start Lindbäck in each. They've won both, and now sit in ninth with 70 points. Ahead of them, Djurgården holds the eighth spot as a result of goal differential. Two points ahead, with 72, Timrå, and two points behind, MODO.

Two of the remaining five games for Brynäs come against Färjestad and HV71, first and second in the league, respectively. They also have two games to play against teams they can pass in the standings: Djurgården on the 21st and Timrå on the 26th. Next up, however, Brynäs will need to pick up points against last-place Södertälje. In four meetings this season, Brynäs has won three of four (1-0, 1-0 and 2-1). The two shutouts went to Markström (23 saves and 40 saves), while the loss was credited to Lindbäck. In their most recent meeting, though, Anders faced 43 shots and stopped all but one, carrying his team to a 2-1 victory.

2009-02-18T00:03:00.003-05:00

Vokoun picked up his fifth shutout of the season and the Panthers improved their point total to 66. Combine that with Buffalo's win and Montreal, New York (Rangers), Buffalo and the Panthers are all tied up; fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth place all sitting tied with 66 points.

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

Florida's hosting the Blackhawks on Thursday night.

2009-02-15T20:46:00.003-05:00

After undergoing successful surgery last night, North Dakota defenseman Derrick LaPoint is done for the season.

LaPoint was hit in to the boards and his ankle snapped up as he broke both his tibia and fibula on the right leg.

The Grand Forks Herald has the full story here.

2009-02-15T02:03:00.005-05:00

During tonight's game against Minnesota State-Mankato, North Dakota defenseman (and Panthers' prospect) Derrick LaPoint suffered a nasty ankle injury when he was hit in to the boards during the first period. His ankle caught and quite simply, snapped.

The Sioux won the game, but LaPoint had to be taken off on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital to tend to the injury.

There's a TV capture of the injury, but since I've used the words "gruesome" and "nasty", I'll just post the picture's link instead of embedding the image if you'd rather not look.

I'll be a bit busy tomorrow, but if I can find more about it when I get home, I'll update.

LaPoint Ankle Injury

2009-02-12T21:25:00.007-05:00

The Panthers were asked to come out and play hard; like a team fighting for their playoff lives, against division-rival Carolina, and they did just that. Carolina made mistakes and the Panthers were on top of everything to take advantage.

Florida won 5-0 with five different goal-scorers: Nathan Horton, Richard Zednik, Anthony Stewart, Gregory Campbell and Michael Frolik.

For Zednik, his goal gives him at at least one point in each of the last four games and a total of six points (4 goals, 2 assists).

Horton's two points put him at 34, and Kamil Kreps' two assists gives him four points in the last two games (all assists).

And then Anthony Stewart. Stewie scored his first goal since November 6 against Los Angeles. It's only his second of the year, but he too has points in consecutive games.

But no shutout would be complete without mention of the goaltender, and what a game he had. Tomas Vokoun faced 42 shots (15, 14, 13) and turned them all aside to record his fourth shutout of the year.

Florida moves to three points ahead of Carolina and now with 62 points, are tied with the Sabres. Since the Panthers have one game in hand, they are 7th while Buffalo is 8th.

Recap

Individual Stats

Boxscore

I guess I wrote this too quickly. The recap isn't available, yet. I'll fix the link when it becomes available.

Like now. Now it is available.

2009-02-12T18:27:00.002-05:00

It's official, but the rumour of Prague wasn't accurate. Instead, the Panthers will take on the Chicago Blackhawks for two games to start next season at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.

While the Cats would give up a home game next year (against Chicago), I'd say it's well worth it. And obviously, the Panthers seem to have said the same thing.

It's going to be fantastic exposure for the Panthers, and it never hurts to attract new fans - no matter where they are.

There will be four teams traveling to Scandinavia to open the season - Florida, Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. While the Panthers and Blackhawks play two games in Finland, Detroit and St. Louis will play a pair of their own in Stockholm, Sweden.

For Florida, you can expect to see an exhibition against one of the Finnish pro teams, or possibly a Finnish all-star team some time in the week leading up to the games.

According to George Richards, the Panthers will likely spend a week in Europe starting on September 27th. The games will be played on the weekend of October 2-4.

Richards' article also had a little extra about the lone Finnish player on the Panthers, Ville Peltonen:

Peltonen is a pending free agent but indicated he would like to return to the Panthers for a fourth season -- and have a chance to play in his homeland in an NHL game for the first time.

"It would be really special to play there," Peltonen said. "To play an NHL game in my country would be awesome. It would be like how a lot of the guys feel when they go to Toronto."

Pretty good stuff.

2009-02-12T10:10:00.004-05:00

LetsGoAmerks.com --

The Rochester Americans have started out a five game road trip with their second straight win, tonight coming against the Chicago Wolves with a 4-3 victory.

Janis Sprukts didn’t fly in to Chicago until around 2:30pm and from there he still had to get to the arena for the game.* One would think flying half away around the world would cause some serious jet lag, but that wasn’t the case tonight.

Sprukts made his presence known early in the game with a great penalty kill along with David Brine working hard to clear the puck.

The first period saw the Amerks and Wolves trade goals with the period ending tied at two.

Drew Larman scored the the first goal of the game for the Amerks after he received an excellent pass from Repik from the right wing side.* Once the puck hit his stick he easily put it into the net.

Karl Stewart was called for a roughing penalty at 9:04 of the first that eventually led to the Wolves power play goal by Riley Holzapfel to gain the 2-1 lead.

As a play was about to be called for icing Stewart continued into a Wolves player and plowed him into the boards.* It was called roughing but probably could have been boarding or even charging.

The play of the game came next as Janis Sprukts scored his first goal of the game by stealing it away at the blue line and skating in untouched to score and tie the game 2-2 heading into the second period.

Tyler Plante was pulled after the first period and replaced by Mike Brodeur in net. . . FULL STORY

With that win, Rochester now has 42 points - 4 points behind Quad City (46) and six behind both Lake Erie and San Antonio (48). As for their league standing as a whole, they're now three points behind Norfolk (45) and three points ahead of Springfield (39).

Thirteen points ahead of Rochester, and with several teams in between, Chicago and Houston are tied with 55 points for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Keith Ballard (USA)

Karlis Skrastins (LAT)

Rostislav Olesz (CZE)

Janis Sprukts (LAT)

2009-02-11T00:06:00.003-05:00

Tyler Plante stopped 33 of 34 Iowa shots last night and the Amerks scored four goals to put the Iowa Stars down, 4-1.

More importantly for Rochester, the two points have pushed them ahead of the Springfield Falcons (Edmonton's affiliate) and out of last place in the league - a position they kept warm from the first day of the season.

Shawn Matthias scored the opening goal on a power play in the first period, and the game held at 1-0 until Iowa tied it early in the third period.

Not quite halfway through the final frame, Randall Gelech put Rochester on top. Soon after, center Drew Larman picked up a shorthanded goal and late in the third, Karl Stewart scored on an empty net.

Rochester has improved to 18-29-0-4, and while the 40 points they have is only one ahead of Springfield, there are six teams with totals in the '40s. Granted, not all are in the same conference (three are).

It's been a slow, but noticeable improvement by a team that had three wins when December started (3-18-0-2). Mike Brodeur provided the goaltending boost, and with it, the team actually started to play with more confidence and it's allowed many of the players to take individual strides in their game - you look at Keaton Ellerby and he's improved dramatically since the season started.

The past four games for Plante though, have been refreshing. The young goaltender was 0-5 with a GAA over 5 and a save percentage of .850%, but in his four starts since Brodeur's injury and Beckford-Tseu's awful performance in the same game, Plante has gone 2-2, stopping 119 of 126 (.944%) and posting a goals-against-average of 1.75. Combined with his previous record, his win/loss is still a disappointing 2-7, but his GAA has dropped considerably, from 5.10 to 3.41 -- and his save percentage has climbed from .850% to .896%.