Florida Panthers

Left Holding the Bag….Again

First of all Happy Canada Day!!!

Been awhile since I posted. My heart just hasn’t been in it, and quite frankly, I just wanted to wait to see how the days coming to July 1 were going to unfold. In true Florida Pantehr fashion, the Cats organIzation has lost another player for next to nothing. I am not going to rehash previous trades, or moves, but will make a brief comment on the loss of defenseman Jay Boumeester.

Everyone and their mother…grandmother for that matter knew that Jay was not going to stay here long term, and they knew this at least 12 monts ago, if not longer than that. The drama that surrounded this player has been quite theatrical and for what? In the end, a third round pick who may or may not see NHL ice, and the right to sign Jordan Leopold!!! Wow! I could have done that with my experience as an NHL GM from my sofa. Darryl Sutter is having the last laugh now as the Calgary Flames have signed Jay for 5 years for 33 million. More on all that later, or next time.

The problem with this whole situation that I find disturbing, is the Uncle Jack (JM the GM) could have and should have dealt Jay last year before the start of the season and received some valuable assets for him. Players that actually could have played during the season, and possibly a draft pick or two, not that our scouts know what to do with those. Yet, Jack, sat on his hands, and strongly felt that the Panthers could PROVE to Jay that they were changing, and that a winning culture was developing and that new head coach Pete DeBoer was going to point the club in the right direction. While DeBoer had a relatively positive impact on last season, Jay was never long for this team, and I read right through it, and was praying for a trade, even at the deadline.

How much better would the Panthers be now with up and coming player Claude Giroux from the Flyers, and whoever else was in that package? Or the Canucks proposed trade of Mason Raymond, and a draft pick? Nope, we couldn’t pull the trigger cause JM thought that the cats had a chance to make the playoffs and needed Jay to do so. Which then resulted in Jay folding like my mom’s old lawn chair, and playing some of the most passive hockey he has ever played.
On top of it, JM the GM is not here to answer for it. No, he’s in Montreal (god help them) with one of the most premier NHL jobs around, not having to answer for his managerial miscues.

I said I wasn’t going to compare any of the other trades, but to me this is worse than the Luongo deal.
True Bertuzzi got hurt, but had 7 points in his first 5 games, Alex Auld could have been a decent goaltender, but they rushed him back after his knee injury and he lost confidence, but we still have Bryan Allen, a more than capable defenseman who will be back this season after missing last year with a knee injury.

This all may sound like sour grapes, but I have to admit, this team is a circus. It gets harder and harder every year to cheer for them when I truly feel that they cannot get out of their own way, and make mistake upon mistake.

Jay, left the Panthers holding the bag, and there aren’t even any pucks in it!