E.14 March 7

We're back baby!!!

By popular demand, the weekly edition of the Florida Panthers News is being brought back and we've got a doozy this week.  We will visit great subjects such as the Panthers overall struggle,   recent trades and to finish, we have a player with a good recent performance.  

What's Hot:  Gm Levergneux makes some more trades

Florida is in a transition year, they're not gonna win the cup but also werent gonna be sellers. That didnt stop them from making moves all year.  They added to that tally with 2 more in recent weeks.  First, we saw them acquire a very promising young forward in Alex Newhook along the nyi 1st.   Sure K'Andre Miller is a good young player but Newhook's potential is just that high.  The Panthers also needed to add Ville Husso whose having a great year in the nhl, but nothing is ever certain with goaltenders and with Binnington in the 1st year of his big contract, it'll be tough for Husso to get that starting tag.  

They followed that trade with another doozy, sending Fowler and recently acquired Nyi 1st for a package that includes Egor Sokolov, Jacob Bernard-Docker,  Tyler Seguin, Jake Gardiner and a pick.  Florida needed another center next year and Seguin fills that role, yes their are some good center available in free agency but we all know how those contract always end up.   Shipping fowler wasnt that big of a deal, he would have been on the 2nd pair and you dont wanna pay a 2nd pair guy 7m+.   

What's Not:  The team as a whole

Florida who once looked like a lock for the playoffs in the weak but very tight atlantic where position 3 through 7 is seperated by only 2 pts.(that one is for you nathan), have struggled mightily losing 7 of 10 espacially when those last 2 went against division rival Ottawa and Detroit.   On the plus side, they have games in hand on 2 of the teams ahead, and those teams will probably be sellers but it wont matter if the Panthers keep losing at the rate they have been lately.  It wont get any easier as 8 of their next 9 games are on the road mostly against playoff calibre teams. 

oh and while writing this, games were simmed and another loss for florida.

What's Hot: Kuznetsov in that game against Columbus

Kuz is the leading scorer for this team and the only regular player with a positive +/- stat. A week ago, the Panthers faced Columbus and he had quite a night.  He lit the lamp 4 times and added an assists in a 7-2 victory.  The stat line went as follow:
G-4  A-1  PTS-5   +/- 5  Pim-2  SOG-11 Hits-2  FO-12/23   

Quite a night for this team's mvp. 

Thanks for tuning in, 
If the demand stays the same, look for another edition of the Florida Panthers News next week.
You stay classy, Dchl