|
Both teams missed last year’s playoffs. Will this deal reverse either Florida or Toronto’s recent fortunes?
General Manager Jacques Martin set out this summer to improve the Panthers’ defense. Instead, he has remade it.
Martin completed the third significant off-season addition to his defense Tuesday, acquiring former All-Star and Olympian Bryan McCabe from Toronto for oft-injured defenseman Mike Van Ryn. The Panthers also received a fourth-round pick in the 2010 draft.
The deal was rumored for weeks, but McCabe - who has a no-trade clause - would not approve the trade until he received a $2 million bonus he was due from the Maple Leafs on Monday.
The other new defensemen for the Panthers are Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton, both acquired from Phoenix in the draft-day deal that sent Olli Jokinen to the Coyotes. All three newcomers are expected to play in a top-six rotation that also figures to include Jay Bouwmeester, Bryan Allen and Noah Welch or Karlis Skrastins.
Florida has certainly bolstered its defense, but lost its leading scorer Olli Jokinen in the process. No signifigant scorer was brought in to fill that gap. Therefore I don’t see this deal propelling Florida to the playoffs in the 2008-09 season. As for Toronto, I don’t have any opinion on their playoff chances this season.
I agree with AP, Murray will need all the luck in the world when it comes to his new job.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Good luck, Terry Murray. You’ve just been hired for the toughest job in the National Hockey League.
That’s what Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi said Thursday when he introduced Murray as the 22nd head coach in franchise history at the team’s training facility.
Murray, who turns 58 Sunday, signed a three-year, $2.65 million contract to succeed Marc Crawford, who was fired June 10 after two unsuccessful seasons.
Unsuccessful has been the byword for the Kings in recent years since they haven’t qualified for the playoffs since 2002. They had 71 points last season — tied with Tampa Bay for the fewest in the NHL.
“When you’re in a rebuilding process, you have to keep your eyes on two things: What’s in front of you, and where you want to go,” Lombardi said. “If you have a very good team in place, it’s easy to focus on the next game. When you’re dealing with young players, it changes day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month. That’s what I mean about the difficulty of the job.
“I think what I mean when I say the toughest job is it’s more multitasking. We want to put together a nucleus that can stick together. Sometimes there’s no good or bad coaches, it’s right fit. The No. 1 thing is that getting young is a process. He’s been through the process.”
*****
Murray guided the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals 11 years ago, and has coached 737 regular-season NHL games.
Murray, whose last head coaching job was with the Florida Panthers, will need a miracle or two to get the Kings turned around. The team’s ownership has shown little patience in recent memory with both coaches and players. Murray’s tenure in LA is therefore likely to be a short one. Just as it was with his predecessor, Marc Crawford. As it stands, the Kings are probably the worst team in the NHL.
Guess what famous Chicago landmark it will be played at? From AP-
CHICAGO - Wrigley Field is going to be the frozen confines on New Year’s Day 2009 when the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings meet the Chicago Blackhawks outdoors in the home park of the Chicago Cubs.
It will be the NHL’s second Winter Classic. Jan. 1 in Buffalo, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 before a crowd of 71,217. Snow fell during the game.
“We expect interest to be on an international level for this once-in-a-lifetime event,” Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz said.
The game will be televised nationally on NBC.
The matchup will be the 701st meeting between the Red Wings and Blackhawks — no two NHL opponents have played more regular-season games against one another than the two fierce rivals.
It will mark the third regular-season outdoor game in NHL history. The Edmonton Oilers hosted the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 22, 2003.
If you make a rare event a yearly occurence, well its no longer rare or novel. Now if the Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning hosted an outdoor ice hockey game in Florida, that would be newsworthy….err I mean impossible.
Another hole for Florida to fill for the 2008-09 NHL season.
SUNRISE - Panthers veteran forward Jozef Stumpel was placed on unconditional waivers Wednesday.
If Stumpel, 35, isn’t claimed by another team by noon Thursday and clears waivers, the Panthers’ next move would likely be to buy out the remaining year on Stumpel’s contract.
Buying out Stumpel’s contract would mean the Panthers would be responsible for paying him two-thirds of his $2.25 million salary for the 2008-09 season.
*****
Stumpel struggled last season, though, recording career lows in goals (seven) and assists (13) and a minus-11 rating. Slowed by a shoulder injury, Stumpel played just 52 games, his fewest in a season since 44 with the Bruins in 1994-95.
Unlike with the Jokinen trade, I think Florida made the right move here. Stumpel supplied little production for the amount the Panthers were paying out to him. I just wonder where Florida is going to come up with any real forwards from. Defensemen/wingers Wade Belak and Steve Montador don’t produce enough in my book.
In return for trading their team Captain and all-time leading scorer, Florida gets a petrified starfish and a bag full of potporui*two defensemen . From the Palm Beach Post-
Olli Jokinen insisted he wasn’t bitter, but his words said otherwise.
The Panthers’ captain and all-time leading scorer said Friday night he got the trade he had come to expect when General Manager Jacques Martin dealt him to Phoenix for defensemen Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton and a second-round pick in this weekend’s draft.
The player Florida selected with the draft pick was-
Name: Colby Robak
Position: Defenseman
Team: Brandon (WHL)
Height/weight: 6-3/194
Birthplace: Dauphin, Manitoba
Career highlights: No. 13-ranked North American skater and seventh-rated defenseman in a draft deep with defensemen. … Was Brandon’s only 16-year-old rookie in 2006-07. … Was a member of Canada’s gold-medal entry in the World U-18 tournament in April.
Quote: “He (has) lots of good tools. He’s a big kid, gets around the ice real well. All his basic skills are strong. He played real well for us.” - Canada U-18 coach Pat Quinn
Another defensemen. I haven’t a clue about how good Robak will be. All I know is it will be sometime before Panther fans know themselves.
How about the defensemen Florida acquired.
Ballard, 25, clearly was the key to the deal. Martin said the 5-foot-11, 208-pounder fills what he had identified as the team’s No. 1 off-season need, a puck-moving defenseman. He was taken 11th overall by Buffalo in 2002.
“He’s a real competitor, a real gritty player,” Martin said. “He’s in your face. He’s physical. He’s a great skater, moves the puck. He’s just a solid all-around defenseman.”
Darren Pang, the Coyotes’ TV analyst and former NHL player, gave Ballard a glowing review.
“An extremely competitive player who basically puts his heart on his sleeve every time he steps on the ice,” Pang said. “He’s a model for great skating (and) a wonderful character guy. They got a wonderful hockey play in Keith Ballard.”
Boynton, 29, was a first-round pick by Boston in 1999 who plays with an edge. He is also expected to earn a spot in the Panthers’ top four.
Like Robak, I know little about these players. Both were in the western conference, and I seldom watch games played by teams(also rans) like Phoenix unless they are playing Florida.
Florida has traded their best scoring threat for two players who seldom put pucks in the net or even assist on goals. These better be two great defensemen to fill the scoring void the Panthers have now.
Note- Florida has a young and upcoming player named Shawn Matthias. Florida GM Jacques Martin must be hoping for Matthias to fill the gap Olli’s departure creates. For I wouldn’t be counting on veterans like McLean, Dvorak, or Zednik to pick up the slack. They’ve proven what they can do in the NHL, which is far less than Jokinen.
BTW I like Shawn Matthias, but he is as of yet, untested but for a few games in the NHL.
What’s the reason given for trading Jokinen?
Martin downplayed talk of a rift between himself and Jokinen and said there was nothing personal involved in the trade.
“I enjoyed working with Olli. He’s an excellent player,” he said. “I look at improving our hockey club and never looked at things from a personal standpoint. I wouldn’t have made the trade if I didn’t feel it was good for the organization.”
Asked about the rumored rift, Jokinen replied, “We’re definitely not going out to dinner. It’s a different relationship than I had with Mike.”
Mike is Mike Keenan, former Panther head coach and Martin’s predecessor as Panther GM. Keenan, who is now with Calgary, was the person mostly responsible for the Roberto Luongo trade which was a fiasco for Florida. My gut feeling is the Jokinen trade we be regarded similarly in a short time.
BTW Florida acquired Luongo and Jokinen in the same trade with the NY Islanders eight years ago. Only seems appropriate Florida return the favor by letting these two key players get stolen back?
Back to why Florida traded Jokinen.
Martin said the bottom line to the deal was he addressed his team’s shortcomings on defense, which were apparent last season when the Panthers led the league in shots against for the second time in three seasons.
“Last year, I indicated that I would improve our goaltending and we have no regrets there,” he said. “We acquired a goaltender (Tomas Vokoun) who gives us a chance to win every night.
Florida has no lack of defensemen, including a very good to excellent one in Jay Bouwmeester. After that you have Bryan Allen, Karlis Skrastins, Cory Murphy, Mike Van Ryn, Magnus Johansson, Wade Belak, Steve Montador, Branislev Mezei, Jassen Cullimore and a couple of other warm bodies.
I’m counting Belak and Montador as defensemen. They are also forwards, and Martin likes to play them there. Truth is, both players don’t score enough to be even 3rd or 4th liners in my book. Belak is there to hit and intimidate players, which he’s fairly good at, however he puts pucks in the net once every four or five years.
Florida had injury problems at defensemen last year, Van Ryn, Mezei, and Murphy missing large chunks of the season. Set aside Montador and Belak, I don’t see Florida hurting if Bouwmeester, Allen, Murphy, Van Ryn, and Skrastins stay healthy. What’s the big need for Ballard and Boynton?
Martin seems to like acquiring defensemen. Allen came in the Luongo trade, Cullimore was signed or traded for during last off season,Johansson was acquired during last season as was Skrastins and Belak. Didn’t these players shore up Florida? If they didn’t, what does that tell us about Martin’s ability to evaluate players. Will he any better with Boynton and Ballard.
Palm Beach Post hockey writer Brian Biggane has something interesting to say at his Panther blog.
One league executive, who team was rumored to be among those pursuing Jokinen, called the former Panthers center “a dog” late Friday night and said any talk of sincere interest on the part of his team was “a plant.”
Panther fans today are bemoaning Jokinen’s departure, many insisting they won’t renew their season tickets as a result. But the league view on Jokinen is he’s a player who lost his motivation after Mike Keenan headed out of South Florida and has been on a steady decline ever since.
I liked Jokinen and still do, as a person. He was always helpful with the media. But as the old saying goes, if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem. It’s no coincidence the Panthers never made the playoffs during his seven years in their uniform.
We read and heard so much about Sidney Crosby and his leadership a few weeks back. Jokinen was not a good leader. First guy off the ice almost every practice. Very involved with his own issues. A negative influence for Nathan Horton who, with his significant role on the team, pulled down everyone else.
“This isn’t a guy you want on your team,” the league exec added.
Biggane relates Jokinen’s habits only after Florida deals him. Why wouldn’t a reporter paid to cover a sports team not relate the truth about a key player? So that key player keeps talking to the reporter, but isn’t the reporter supposed to report the whole news?
I’m not a big Brian Biggane fan, so I’d take his Jokinen revelation with a large lump of salt. The annonymous NHL executive doesn’t help persuade me of what Biggane is writing either. Couldn’t the reporter find at least one person in the NHL willing to go on the record about how Olli really is?
Bottom line- I think the Florida Panthers have made another bad trade. ESPN’s Scott Burnside once called Florida the most dysfunctional franchise in the NHL. I have a hard time disagreeing with Scott, and I’m a big Panther fan.
*- I borrowed this wisecrack from baseball stat man, Bill James. He used it a long time ago to describe some MLB trade.
With Mason’s departure, the Predators are now without the two goalies who took them to consecutive Central Division 2nd place finishes in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
OTTAWA — The St. Louis Blues acquired goaltender Chris Mason from the Nashville Predators for a fourth-round pick in Friday’s draft.
The 32-year-old Mason played in a career-high 51 games for the Predators last season, posting a 2.90 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage.
“Acquiring Chris really solidifies our goaltending position which was one of our goals going into this weekend,” Blues president John Davidson said in a statement. “We are looking forward to a big day today at the draft.”
Nashville has two picks each in the first, second and fourth rounds. The team also agreed with goalie Dan Ellis on a multiyear deal.
Mason compiled a 58-43-12 record in 135 appearances for Nashville during two stints with the team (1998-01 and 2003-08), mostly serving as a backup behind former goalie Tomas Vokoun and Ellis.
Vokoun was dealt to the Florida Panthers a year ago. I don’t know who the Predators have in the minors, and Ellis did have a good year last year, but I see the team now thin at Goaltender. One strong year in the NHL doesn’t certify Dan Ellis as a quality #1 Goalie in my opinion.
The second of two head NHL coaching vacancies has been filled.
Craig Hartsburg is the new coach of the Ottawa Senators, the third time he has led an NHL team.
Hartsburg takes over from Senators general manager Bryan Murray, who finished the season behind the Ottawa bench after coach John Paddock was fired in late February.
Hartsburg also has coached in Anaheim and Chicago, and was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2002 to 2004. The 48-year-old Hartsburg has been coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the past five seasons.
Ottawa was, either the worst or second to worst(Only to the Florida Panthers*) underacheiving team in the NHL last year. The Senators are talented, but face troubles also. One of which is their goaltending situation.
Is Hartsburg going to help Ottawa? He has a lifetime sub .500 record, and hasn’t coached in the NHL for nearly a decade. To me the hiring looks questionable, especially with their being a large pool of experienced NHL head coaches available at the moment (John Tortorella, Pat Quinn, Marc Crawford to just name three).
*- Talking about the Panthers. When will GM(and former Head Coach) Jacques Martin get off his butt and hire his replacement? Martin is still doing interviews two months after being relieved of his head coaching responsibilities.
This news had been rumored for months at least.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - John Tortorella was fired Tuesday as coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, four years after leading the team to its only Stanley Cup championship. He had one season remaining on his contract.
The Lightning were 239-222-36-38 and made the playoffs four times in 6 1/2 seasons under Tortorella.
“This has been a very difficult decision because of everything that John Tortorella has meant to and done for this organization,” Lightning general manager Jay Feaster said in a statement.
“Torts came to Tampa and not only built the foundation under our club but he also changed the culture and raised the expectations, eventually leading us to the Stanley Cup in 2004. What he accomplished during his tenure in Tampa was nothing short of remarkable and our organization will always owe him our thanks, gratitude and deep respect.”
The firing came as no surprise. There has already been speculation about television analyst and former Los Angeles Kings coach Barry Melrose possibly replacing Tortorella.
If Tampa Bay replaces Tortorella with Melrose, the Lightning are going to remain in the Southeast Division’s cellar for some time to come. Melrose hasn’t coached in the NHL for over 10 years and I think is out of touch with the game today.
I’d like to see the Florida Panthers now hire Tortorella. The cats have been leaderless since Jacques Martin stepped down as coach almost two months ago. Martin, who is still the Panther’s GM, hasn’t hired a new coach yet. I say hire Tortorella, the listless Panthers could use the kick in the ass this firey coach would give them. Unfortunately I don’t think the Panthers will make that move. They’ll play it safe again with the head coaching job and miss the playoffs again.
My favorite hockey team did something last night they seldom do. Beat Carolina in Carolina.
RALEIGH, N.C. - Nathan Horton had a goal and an assist and the Florida Panthers beat Carolina 4-3 on Friday night to prevent the Hurricanes from clinching the Southeast Division.
Radek Dvorak added a goal and an assist, and Jay Bouwmeester and Steve Montador also scored for the Panthers, who snapped a 13-game losing streak on Carolina’s home ice and won here for the first time since 2002.
Eric Staal, Sergei Samsonov and Trevor Letowski each scored for the Hurricanes, who would have clinched the division with a victory and outshot Florida 46-17 while committing no penalties to the Panthers’ nine.
Instead for Carolina, it will be a long weekend of scoreboard watching. Washington would clinch the division title by beating Florida on Saturday night. The division goes to the Hurricanes with a Capitals loss.
Tomas Vokoun stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced in the first period before leaving with back spasms and giving way to Craig Anderson, who finished the game and made 26 saves for the Panthers. Cam Ward made 13 saves in his 20th straight start for Carolina before he was pulled for an extra attacker with about 1 1/2 minutes left.
Samsonov had pulled Carolina within one goal by scoring on the power play midway through the third period, taking a feed from Ray Whitney and one-timing it high and past Anderson’s glove side to make it 4-3. But Anderson was impenetrable after that, making flashy save after flashy save to seal Florida’s first victory in Raleigh since a 2-0 win on Dec. 6, 2002.
Tonight Florida can try to foil Washington’s season by beating them. At present Washington and Carolina are tied for the Southeast Division lead and final playoff spot. Washington has the inside track to make the playoffs, if they win tonight they are in.
Florida wins a meaningless game or two to close out the 2007-08 season. As I wrote last week, this was the year for Florida to not just make the playoffs but win the division. This team just can’t win when it matters, and has proven that time and time again. Last night just being the latest instance. This team needs to be shaken up or Panther fans can expect more of the same in the years ahead.
The cats lost to Atlanta last night 3-2. This defeat was the nail in the coffin for the Panthers post season playoff hopes.
Florida hasn’t made the playoffs in eight years. The longest non-playoff streak in the NHL at present. Half the teams in the league make the playoffs every year, and some how Florida keeps missing the boat.
This year should have been the perfect opportunity. The Southeast Division is weak, and the conference not a whole lot stronger. Florida has the personnel to win- Tomas Vokoun in Goal and Craig Anderson is more than a solid backup, Olli Jokinen is one of the top scorers, behind him we had Nathan Horton, Jozef Stumpel, Stephen Weiss, Richard Zednik, David Booth(who I think can be a bigger scoring threat than Jokinen once he gets more experience), Rostislav Olesz and solid defensemen in Jay Bouwmeester, Bryan Allen and more.
What went wrong? The team quit far too often, or played scared. Four defeats in February after gaining 2-goal leads in a game(3 of them in the final period) marked this team as a non-playoff material. The talent is present on this team, but they have little heart. I think Florida is the biggest underacheivers in the NHL.
Where does Florida go from here? Coach Jacques Martin is likely to fired this post season. I’d have a hard time defending the coach. However Florida has had little continuity in management and coaching in its short existence. 9 men have coached this team, only two brought them to the playoffs. Is coach #10 going to change anything or just be more of the same? Note- Martin is the winningest coach in team history.
I’m going to wait till the 07-08 Panther season is history before I do more in-depth postmortem. This should have been the year for Florida.
|
 |
Permalink
| Send TrackBack
-
Florida Panthers- Too little, Too late linked with OTB Sports
-
Wizbang Sports linked with Florida Panthers- Too little, Too late...
|
