Same old Panthers…Gets kind of stale…Win a few, lose a few more, play for the extra session and pray for better results, but it they don’t come out on top of the majority of those either…

Even the goals they score aren’t highlight- worthy….So now that they’ve come to this realization that it’s “Groundhog Day” over and over again, it’s too late… Even though they are rumored to be actively shopping guys, I’m sure the offers they’re getting back aren’t anywhere near they’d like them to be, so we’re STUCK….

This team should’ve been making deals over the last 2-3 years using their so-called young talent….By now, it’s too late and others realize all of their young talent is OVER-HYPED BS….They should start with Horton. Maybe someone will bite on the fact that he’s a supposed 70-point star…McCabe and Vokoun should also be used to bring in new prospects….It probably won’t happen until closer to the trade deadline, but that’s what needs to be done…

I don’t like rooting for the team to lose, but it would be better for them to do it now, as opposed to watching a team like this that’s only shot is to hope and pray to get close to the 8th spot one of these years….Keep the young ENERGY guys bouncing them back and forth, but get rid of your supposed talented guys and give others a chance to do something with their top-line minutes….

I see your point that you’d like to roll the dice and get new, younger players. From my perspective, the panthers a competitive team that’s losing close games and the result of some of these games would be different if they had Booth and Stillman in the line-up.

Moreover, it’s hard to trade in today’s NHL, at least until the deadline. That’s something I find very frustrating as a fan, especially since I am just getting back into following pro hockey after a 14 year hiatus. I really liked the wheeling and dealing back then. But if the cats are going to deal, instead of dealing Vokoun and Horton for risky prospects, I’d rather see the cats add someone. Maybe try to set it up so there are two ‘third lines’ for the playoffs. Personally, I really think that Booth and Stillman are going to be difference makers for the offense, and I think this is going to be a much improved team in the new year.

I also think that Vokoun is the type of goalie who could get hot and take a team all the way to the Finals. Getting in 8th is just as good as getting in 1st, IMO, and I’d love to see Vokoun stuff the Caps in the first round. Then we could all say the cats were just waiting in the weeds during the regular season.

I agree with Slapshot. We need to mix things up and trade away some top prospects for some that might mix up well with our team. Does anyone when Booth is coming back? Also, does anyone know which home games the Cats are wearing the 3rd jerseys this season?

Here’s my issue with trading away some our “top” guys. With the playoff drought we all know about, is this really a market\organization that can support a team if they do scrap their last 4-5 drafts, trade away for prospects and draft picks, and go through a 3-4 year rebuild before maybe, hopefully making the playoffs in, say, 2013? There’s already under 12,000 showing up to games. What would another 3 years of losing do? I hear Hamilton and Winnipeg are looking for a team… and that is a real worst case scenario, in my opinion. Yea, we could end up struggling through this season and missing out again, but as long as we’re in the 2-4 points back of 8th range, it’s hard to envision this team scrapping the season. If March rolls around and we’re 13th, 12 back? Yea, obviously it’s time to sell. But not now. Not while we’re playing a line of AHLers and still competitive, gaining points.

Personally, I’d like this team to use Rochester’s success for Panthers gain. Assuming we’re still relevant come trade deadline, package a couple of our prospects and find a team selling. Assuming Booth and Stillman come back in time to make a difference, one or two pieces could be the difference between 6th and 10th (sounds familiar, right? Let’s see if Sexton learned from Martin’s mistake last year….) Anyways, I’m not packing it in yet. The effort is there, the competitiveness is there. I’m not so sure the wins won’t start coming sooner rather than later. Remember, this time last year, we were in the cellar and climbed back to a tie for 8th. Why can’t we start our 2nd half streak from the 10th spot and get up to 5? Who knows?

I agree that we shouldn’t just cave in and I realize the Panthers don’t want to admit they are ever rebuilding because they’d like to sell seats, but I do believe they should start by making some deals throughout the season…. I know it’s harder to trade, but take some chances… Sometimes it’s good to send a message to show that performance so far as unacceptable….

Yes most expiring contracts get made closer to the deadline, but I think we should be willing to deal ahead of the others to make sure we don’t get stuck with expiring contracts, and no playoffs or extra draft picks or prospects in return… I think we learned the hard way last year with J-BO…. I was of the opinion we should’ve traded J-BO at the start of last season, or well before the deadline…. Yes maybe we would’ve never made that run to get us in contention for the 8th 0r 9th seed, but the package in return would’ve been a whole lot sweeter….. And it’s hard to believe JM truly believed J-Bo would resign here, even if we did sneak into the playoffs…. Not to mention the RISK factor that J-BO could go down with a season-ending injury….. Either way, terrible management by JM, so let’s hope we learn some lessons and move on….

The other points I have are the so-called TALENTED PROSPECTS everyone seems to think we have…. I do see that Rochester is very succesful this year, and that’s great for the organization as a whole, but I don’t think that means we’re stacked with talent down there by any means…. Everyone keeps touting Ellerby and Garrison, and they haven’t proven to be NHL-worthy yet…. I have to admit I still think Matthias should be able to make it at some point, but it’s definitely taken longer than most of us would like… Still defintiely IFFY…. Repik was highly touted by many, but for some reason Coach PDB doesn’t like his size, and maybe he hasn’t gotten a fair shake…. I do think that it’s still possible he could be a sniper that just needs more of a surrounding cast, like Ray Whitney, Stu Barnes, etc…. Also if Horton were to be traded, I think Repik could take his minutes and make up for at least 70-80% of Horton’s points—just my opinion….

Other than that, our best pick-ups from Rochester were the ENERGY guys like Oreskovick, McArdle, Taffe, Duco, etc….. something JM never utilized as a Coach or a GM here…. JM would rather stick with the Zedniks, Peltonens, McLeans, etc and pray like hell they could get him 15-20 goals…. He failed miserably to use a GRIT factor, or the added excitement that a few tough guys could add to your fanbase and energize the team….. I think Rochester’s success comes from solid coaching, and good AHL players, but not necessarily true, future, long-term NHLers…. I say find some teams with LEGITIMATE FUTURE PROSPECTS that arent’ good enough to make that team, but probably could help this one…. For every 5 of these guys you try, maybe you only hit on 2 or 3, but it gives us hope…. Better than watching Horton and Weiss here for another 5 years….. Yes Booth is exciting, but I think he’s the type guy that can thrive with anyone… His energy and hustle make him who he is….There was no magic chemistry there. It was just PDB putting his 3 most talented guys together so they could get maximum ice time, and hoping it would produce close to other team’s top lines….. So overall I say don’t be afraid to get rid of some heavy contracts( McCabe, Stilman, Olesz, T-VO) when you can before you wait too long….Maybe even take some gambles swapping bad contracts in return, as long as they throw more in the pot in return…. Take teams like Chicago and Philly….. I’m not saying you want to pay Brian Campbell even half the money he makes, but if they would take McCabe, Stillman, and Olesz and throw us a package of some guys like Sharp, Byfuglien, Barker, Versteeg, etc—-maybe it would be worth it….What I’’m saying is that if you could get some 3 for 2 deals or 4 for 3, maybe it would be worth looking into…. The Hawks would probably do a lot to get rid of Huet and Campbell’s contracts….. Ship them some of our bad contracts, and maybe we should get better in the process….

Totally agree with the comment on our AHL players, I also think Repik is quite a bit better then Deboer gives him credit for too. I really dont think this team needs any trades though, its not like we dont have talent or we dont create lots of scoring chances, our goals for are right in the middle of the conference right now, thats without Booth and Stillman and with every forward with the exception of 3 producing well under par.
What we desperately need is a better defense. But does that mean we need different players? I dont think so at all, we need a better defensive system! The reason we’re struggling so much right now is because we went through too many changes since last season (half of our current skaters weren’t here last year) and everyone has to learn how to fit together in Deboers style, which hasn’t happened at all. Once the team comes together and learns to play as a unit (see last december-january) we’ll be a much more competitive team, a trade would only bring in more players who would need time to learn the system and we’d take a step backwards.