Panthers sign their top draft pick from 2007, Keaton Ellerby

You still Suc#k It's going to be the SAAAAMMMMMEEEEEEEE thing again.

I'm going to camp out in Sunrise immediately to be first on line for Stanley Cup Final tickets for 2009.
How can we fail?

Excellent. Now Bouwmeester can show Ellerby the ropes before he gets low-balled and bolts from our joke of an NHL farm team. Just wait until Florida starts playing more Western conference games next season. No more "hiding" in the Southeast division....and Martin thinks a "puck moving defenseman" is all we need <sigh>. Amateur.

Wow, top AHL signing, no need for a puck moving D after all. Melon head is a genius !

motherf723 wrote:

Wow, top AHL signing, no need for a puck moving D after all. Melon head is a genius !

Apparently he can do no right. I guess we should just let all of our draft picks walk?

RED BARON wrote:

Excellent. Now Bouwmeester can show Ellerby the ropes before he gets low-balled and bolts from our joke of an NHL farm team. Just wait until Florida starts playing more Western conference games next season. No more "hiding" in the Southeast division....and Martin thinks a "puck moving defenseman" is all we need <sigh>. Amateur.

Were Allen, Weiss, or Horton "low-balled?" No, they were paid accordingly and were also given long-term contracts.

Btw, while I agree we obviously need more offense, and less Stumpel, a "puck moving defenseman" does open up the play. Guys like Campbell have great outlet passes which jumpstarts the offense.

Realist723 wrote:

<quoted text>
Apparently he can do no right. I guess we should just let all of our draft picks walk?

That the team has not yet signed Frolik, who they drafted 2 years ago, points to the possibility that Frolik might "walk" and then go back into the draft. Hard to understand why this kid was not signed. There is a cap on entry level contracts, so it's not exactly rocket science, unless the team is trying to low-ball him.

But the bigger problem remains - which is to sign free agents once the free agent period begins. Kind of hard to do that with top level players when you don't have a coach in place beforehand. Top players want to know who they are going to play for before choosing among competing offers. Perhaps that's a concern that Frolik and his agent have too.

And the pieces keep falling into place.....

Realist723 wrote:

<quoted text>
Apparently he can do no right. I guess we should just let all of our draft picks walk?

Realist - you have to learn to ignore a certain number of these doomsayers that feel the need to post negative comments no matter what.

The fact remains that the ownership of this organization has stepped up and the management has responded by tying up its young talent in long-term deals to set up for success on a year-to-year basis.

Next year is going to be a good year for the Cats. I know all you negative posters will disagree, because you like to see only the negative and not the positive. But this Panthers team is going to be much improved next year.

Wait a Minute wrote:

<quoted text>
That the team has not yet signed Frolik, who they drafted 2 years ago, points to the possibility that Frolik might "walk" and then go back into the draft. Hard to understand why this kid was not signed. There is a cap on entry level contracts, so it's not exactly rocket science, unless the team is trying to low-ball him.
But the bigger problem remains - which is to sign free agents once the free agent period begins. Kind of hard to do that with top level players when you don't have a coach in place beforehand. Top players want to know who they are going to play for before choosing among competing offers. Perhaps that's a concern that Frolik and his agent have too.

It's a concern, but it happpens. Not every draft pick gets signed right away, but I'm sure Martin is working on it. He's seemingly taking care of the prospects and role players first. Nothing wrong with that, imo.

Again, I don't think Martin is going to wait that long to find a coach. He just doesn't tip his hand. He didn't with the goal position when he got Vokoun, but we landed the best goalie available last year.

As I said, Maurice's firing shows why Martin isn't in a "hurry" to find someone. He wants to find the RIGHT coach and it's wise to wait and see who comes available. Quenneville(sp) and Wilson are two quality coaches who could come available, I'm sure Martin is waiting to see all his options.

And according to The Post, Pearn and Quinn are both intrigued and interested in the position.

Rash decisions helped get us to where we're currently at, I'm glad Martin and Cohen are finally being patient with the prospects, players, and their coaching decision. It's about time.

Schmendrick wrote:

<quoted text>
Realist - you have to learn to ignore a certain number of these doomsayers that feel the need to post negative comments no matter what.
The fact remains that the ownership of this organization has stepped up and the management has responded by tying up its young talent in long-term deals to set up for success on a year-to-year basis.

Agreed. As you said, there are plenty here in the noisy minority.

Btw, if you'd like good, reational, and educated hockey talk, checkout HFBoards.com or the Panthers official boards. Plenty of knowledgeable guys there. Some who are happy with th ecurrent situation and some who are not. They're just not such negative nancies.

Louie wrote:

Next year is going to be a good year for the Cats. I know all you negative posters will disagree, because you like to see only the negative and not the positive. But this Panthers team is going to be much improved next year.

We'll see, that's been said before. I think a new coach and a likely new captain-whether Olli's traded or not-will be steps in the right direction.

I'd rather have Quenneville (former Hartford Whaler) or Wilson as the coach. I'm not sure Quinn would be the right fit with such a young team. I always thought he preferred teams with more veteran players. But I could be wrong.

I was hoping Tortorella might get let go from Tampa, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Rat Boy wrote:

I'd rather have Quenneville (former Hartford Whaler) or Wilson as the coach. I'm not sure Quinn would be the right fit with such a young team. I always thought he preferred teams with more veteran players. But I could be wrong.
I was hoping Tortorella might get let go from Tampa, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Tortie would be the worst thing for a franchise built on integrity. The guy attacked an opponent's fan once, and is known to be whinier than Crosby. The last thing we need is a guy who whines and lays the blame on others. We need someone who will not stand for excuses.

Louie wrote:

Next year is going to be a good year for the Cats. I know all you negative posters will disagree, because you like to see only the negative and not the positive. But this Panthers team is going to be much improved next year.

As Yogi Berra says, "it's deja vu all over again." As a season ticket holder since year 1, I hope so I just have had a crisis in confidence.

Man, Mr. Martin really has big ears! I kept thinking "Dumbo".

TRUTH wrote:

<quoted text>
Tortie would be the worst thing for a franchise built on integrity. The guy attacked an opponent's fan once, and is known to be whinier than Crosby. The last thing we need is a guy who whines and lays the blame on others. We need someone who will not stand for excuses.

Franchise built on integrity?? Like the lie that was spewed 2 years ago to all Panther fans about our newly acquired power forward Brokeback Bertuzzi?? That he had a "rib" injury in the preseason. Oops, seems it was his broke back, not ribs. Or the show of "intergrity" on the ice?? You know, like playing the game hard everyday. Or maybe the "integrity" to take the high road when you are the coach/gm and not throw your players under the bus to the media. I certainly don't think "integity" when I think Everbl.. oops, Panthers.

Schmendrick wrote:

<quoted text>
Realist - you have to learn to ignore a certain number of these doomsayers that feel the need to post negative comments no matter what.
The fact remains that the ownership of this organization has stepped up and the management has responded by tying up its young talent in long-term deals to set up for success on a year-to-year basis.

Nice commercial for the team. Anyway, I can't wait for dumbo to make Kitchen coach, and for this team to trade Ollie, and lose Bouw, and sign Campbell, and finish last next year.

Realist is an optimist. Though if you look at this team's history, you could call him something else.