Florida Panthers

Help is on the way…For Rochester

Big news in South Florida today as the Florida Panthers signed 30 year old RW Graham Mink to a two year deal! The Panthers last three signings now include, Clay Wilson, Jeff Taffe and the above mentioned Mink. I honestly would feel better if these three names were a law firm: Mink, Taffe and Wilson P.A. Mink has 7 NHL games to his credit, yet has won the Calder Cup twice, which apparently has some value..? I guess if we can’t get any Stanley Cup winners to sign with us, we might as well sign guys who have won minor league championships since most of our roster is made up of them anyway.

Yes, as you can tell I am getting a bit sour on this franchise and am running out of patience. They make one call to Saku Koivu’s agent, and obviously don’t sign him, so in an effort to make some noise we go and get a career minor leaguer (another one). I am surprised we didn’t make a run at Jay McKee who has signed with Pittsburgh. I think I could have been happy about that even though he’s a defenseman. I am not sure what is going on, and how the Panthers think that they are helping themselves, but maybe they plan on having a bunch of injuries and want some experience for call ups.
While that is always good to have, it is becoming increasingly more frustrating as each day passes while other teams continue to improve.

There are still some interesting names out there that I wonder if the Panthers are even considering.
Alex Tanguay, Brendan Morrison, Petr Sykora, Dennis Seidenburg. They probably aren’t even considering them, although Assistant GM Randy Sexton has mentioned that they have had talks with Tanguay. I just can’t imagine Tanguay playing here. At this point I would settle for Tom Kostopoulos, he’s greek, so am I, and at least he hustles every nite.

How about doing something bold and getting some restricted free agent to sign an offer sheet????
That would be bold now wouldn’t it? Something the Panthers have never done. At least it could appear that they are making an effort. But they will probably end up signing someone like Mike Sillinger, or Mark Parrish, both ex Panthers.

Speaking of ex-Panthers, how about going after Todd Bertuzzi? Let’s face it, in 7 games for the Panthers he had 7 points until he hurt his back and missed almost the rest of the season after the Luongo trade. Why Todd you say? Well, for one, he’s a big power forward (yes his 30 goal days are over) he has probably some of the softest hands you will ever find, and has a very keen eye for making nifty passes. I watched alot of Calgary games last year, and he can make some nice passes, and can be a difficult body to move around. He could probably be signed for less than 2 million per year and for 2 years, I would take a chance on him. If he didn’t hurt his back and played the full season here in Florida, he could have put up a very respectable 50 points or so.
He got a bad rap because of the injury and because he was part of the Luongo deal, but honestly, I think the Panthers should take a chance on him. It probably goes against everything that I am looking for because of his age, and some nites it looks like he’s meandering around the ice, but it does not appear that any high or even mid profile player is coming here, so why not give it a shot?
Everyone deserves a second chance, so why not Todd?

So there you have it, my two suggestions and then the Panthers can be done. Come on down Todd you deserve a chance to redeem yourself here, and you too Tom Kostopoulos. We have some great greek restaurants here and need the greek community to embrace the Panthers. Or at least it might be a way to attract some new fans!

Thanks for reading!