Florida Panthers sign LW Cory Stillman

LA is at 27 mill and we could send Murphy Ryno and Pelts for Boyle, or send them to CBJ who is at 30 mill and we get Brassard.

Or split them because LA needs D men and we could send Ryno, Pelts and Murphy to LA and send Tins to CBJ.

TGH wrote:

<quoted text> Excuses for Jokinen? I'm not buying it. He dissapeared at crunch time and never won anything here. His minus 19 wont be missed this year. Watch.

No one on the Panthers ever won anything as a Panther. Also easy to be -19 when you play with such stalwarts as Stumpel, Peltonen, McLean and a host of other guys - none of whom would be considered even a second line player on a good team. Nonetheless, how about his +14 and +18 the prior two seasons? Yeah, what have you done for me lately. Hey, don't hurt yourself jumping off the bandwagon!

Wait a Minute wrote:

<quoted text>
No one on the Panthers ever won anything as a Panther. Also easy to be -19 when you play with such stalwarts as Stumpel, Peltonen, McLean and a host of other guys - none of whom would be considered even a second line player on a good team. Nonetheless, how about his +14 and +18 the prior two seasons? Yeah, what have you done for me lately. Hey, don't hurt yourself jumping off the bandwagon!

I'm on the bandwagon. Always have been. Maybe its you who's jumping off. Jokinen had to go. The team needed change and captain Jokinen wasnt getting it done. With a new young coach and a tougher D, I think we're on the right track.

These newly signed AHL guys may not stay there forever since were picked with Deboer's help. Any new coach will have one or two favorites comming with him...they are not Weiss or Campbell who were here already.

TGH wrote:

<quoted text> I'm on the bandwagon. Always have been. Maybe its you who's jumping off. Jokinen had to go. The team needed change and captain Jokinen wasnt getting it done. With a new young coach and a tougher D, I think we're on the right track.

But that tougher D depends on Jay Bouwmeester signing to stay here, and then the Panthers signing the two acquired d-men to stay here beyond this season. Both are in the final year of their contracts. Just the loss of Bouwmeester will be a problem. Ofcourse, I am waiting for you to get the word from Pedro or Chad to knock him too once he's gone.

vic b wrote:

<quoted text>Jokinen will shine at Phoenix but it was time for him to go.Martin is slowly and methodically changing the grit level and chemistry of the team.He now is working on organizing our AHL team and restocking it.I find it interesting that no one has extended Bouwmeester an offer sheet-I guess they dont want to sacrifice a 1st and a 3rd round draft pick for him.Martin should sign him then trade him during the year since we cant afford the 7 million he will command

For any remaining Olli fans, I found he has a website, check it out Ollijokinen.net

Here are two interesting quotes from Kevin Lowe, in an interview he gave this week as part of his running battle with Brian Burke - both of which point to how teams target the Panthers as a team that can be fleeced for it's assets:

"Here's a fact - he left (former Canucks GM) Dave Nonis nothing in Vancouver," he explained. "Nothing. He destroyed that team. If it wasn't for Nonis' incredible deals - to con Mike Keenan to get (Roberto) Luongo in Vancouver - that team was taking a nose dive two years ago."

"I mean, that's his M.O., but no one says anything. He goes into Anaheim and he inherits an incredible team. He gets Chris Pronger - not because of our relationship, it just so happened we had five or six teams and targeted their assets. We had Florida, Anaheim, Philadelphia, San Jose and Los Angeles."

Interesting to see that within the world of GM's the Luongo deal is considered a "con job".

Also should point out that most teams that trade for a player in the final year of his contract, quickly turn around and sign that player to a contract extension so they don't lose him and in the end get nothing in the long run. So why have the Panthers not yet signed Ballard and Boynton to extensions? Seems like they are setting themselves up to be fleeced yet again down the road.

TGH wrote:

<quoted text> I'm on the bandwagon. Always have been. Maybe its you who's jumping off. Jokinen had to go. The team needed change and captain Jokinen wasnt getting it done. With a new young coach and a tougher D, I think we're on the right track.

What say you now, with Bouwmeester having just filed for arbitration today and the likelihood of him staying with the Panthers having diminished to next to nothing? Is that D still tougher without him? Or are you going to try to tell us that losing Jay is actually a good thing!

This team is still far from respectiblity. Signing a 34 year old second or third liner is nice, but we need much more. When will Cohen open up his wallet like other teams in the league. It is getting very old!