The Horton Deal: What they're saying

by Donny Rivette on Jun 23, 2010 11:55 AM EDT in Florida Panthers Transactions

No shortage of opinions or coverage concerning Nathan Horton in what's become Florida GM Dale Tallon's epic first salvo on the long road to franchise legitimacy. A few thoughts and comments from points far and near among the the tangled interwebs after the jump...

From around the net:

When Nathan Horton told general manager Dale Tallon he wasn't sure he wanted to play for the Florida Panthers anymore, Tallon didn't hesitate to make sure Horton didn't have to.

- George Richards, Miami Herald

Horton told Tallon maybe it was time for a change.

- Steve Gorten, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

While there is little surprise that the Panthers traded Horton -- he was a goner from Florida the moment new general manager Tallon took over -- there had been some suggestions that he could be moved to the Senators for (beleaguered Ottawa forward Jason) Spezza.

- Ken Warren, Ottawa Citizen

"(Horton's) either been a dominating force, or sometimes he just disappears. If he's a dominating force, he's a really scary player."

- Jack Edwards, via NESN

"...For all of Horton's warts, which have led to complaints that he's intensity-challenged, the right wing has recorded at least 20 goals in five straight seasons and would have been Boston's leading scorer by a comfortable margin last year."

- Joe Haggerty, CSN New England

The price to acquire Horton (...) was somewhat steep. The B’s parted with defenseman Dennis Wideman, a disappointment last season until the stretch drive and playoffs (he led Boston with 12 post-season points), the No. 15 selection overall in this weekend’s draft, plus a third-round choice next year.

- Mike Loftus, The Patriot Ledger

Last year, one Bruin branded Horton as having "no heartbeat.’’ However, the Bruins are hopeful that under (head coach) Claude Julien’s firm hand, Horton will rebound in Boston.

- Fluto Shinzawa, Boston Globe

Poolies (and fans in general too, for that matter) should be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking that every deal is going to suddenly magically result in increased production for the players involved, but logically there are some pretty good reasons to think Horton's career can take an upward path from here.

- Chris Nichols, Sportsnet

Precisely as Edmonton GM Steve Tambellini sat down behind a microphone at Rexall Place Tuesday, beginning his explanation on why Pat Quinn was "accelerated" upstairs after one year as the Oilers head coach, news was breaking that Florida GM Dale Tallon was mowing Tambellini's lawn with Boston.

- Mark Spector, Sportsnet

It's nice to see a trade in which both teams benefit. The Bruins improve their short-term outlook and yet will still have a bright future since they have the No. 2 pick in the draft (thanks, Mr. Burke!) while the Panthers cut ties with a promising but frustrating player while positioning themselves to overhaul a roster that couldn't quite make it to the playoffs.

- James O'Brien, NBC Sports' Pro Hockey Talk

From the Panthers' perspective, this is new GM Dale Tallon starting the reburbishing of this team. Defenseman Dennis Wideman is 27, and his $3.8 million salary cap hit is in the range that Tallon seems to like. More important, the Panthers pick up the 15th pick to go with the No. 3 they already have. The Panthers aren't close to being done. Tallon is an aggressive manager, and he will rapidly change the look of the Panthers.

- Kevin Allen, USA Today

Horton's value has always been in his potential to become a star when rescued from Florida.

- Greg Wyshynski, Yahoo! Sports' Puck Daddy

There have been some questions about Horton's work ethic, but hopefully it was just a case of a guy wanting to get out of a bad situation in Florida and the new zip code will change his mindset.

- SBN's Stanley Cup of Chowder

Horton has shown he’s knowledgeable when it comes to the greats of Bruins history. Now he has to strive to live up to their standards of work ethic, determination and desire, and live up to the expectations that are being placed on him as a savior for an inept offense.

- Matt Kalman, The Bruins Blog

Tallon had promised us change and delivered quickly. He really likes Wideman, but nabbing the 15th overall pick was huge.

- Pierre LeBrun, ESPN

Let's see if the talented Horton responds better to playing in a hockey town than another ex-Panther, Jay Bouwmeester, did in Calgary last year.

- Damien Cox, Toronto Star

Poll

The Panthers...

..."Won" the deal: In the end it was uninspired, run-for-the-exit winger for 15th overall pick and top-four Dman

69 votes

..."Lost" the deal: Horts is just hitting his prime; talent falls off sharply beyond top five or six picks

54 votes

...and Bruins "evened out": similar salaries between Horts and Wideman, Bs get their scorer while Cats get that early pick

96 votes

Waaaay too early to pass judgment

80 votes

299 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

I think this is good for both teams. Horton’s work ethic was better last year and I think he’ll benefit from the change of scenery. Campbell was a hard worker but there are guys like McArdle who play a similar and should be ready to step into the bottom-six. Wideman fills in one of the holes on defense left from last year’s deadline deals and the number 15 pick is a nice pickup. Five picks in the first two rounds is nice odds, or a good bargaining chip.

Florida Panthers: Giving the league a punching bag since 2000.

by John Beatty on Jun 23, 2010 1:14 PM EDT reply actions

Panthers win...

because you never want a guy on your team who doesn’t want to be there and doesn’t put forth maximum effort. Wideman had an off year in terms of points, but showed he still had the goods in the playoffs. Horton had to go in my opinion because even if he wasn’t content in Florida, you can’t withhold your best effort, it’s childish.

by 34Beezer on Jun 23, 2010 3:15 PM EDT reply actions

And we got the 15th pick!

by 34Beezer on Jun 23, 2010 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Win

This is a win for the cats. As 34beezer said and Tallon showed we don’t want a guy here who doesn’t want to play here. The difference between Wideman and Horton (likely) was Horton got moody and demotivated just because of the situation and place he was in (boo hoo) and Wideman felt the pressure of living up to the expectations of his previous year. It is tougher to change bad attitudes than it is to get experienced and poised. Anyone remember some guy named Joe Thornton? He used to play in the same city that Horton is going to. In the year he was traded he was being just as moody as Horton and it showed. When he took faceoffs he literally wasn’t trying, Sportscenter of all shows even picked up on this, how easy it was to knock his stick away and push him aside and then weeks later how this MAGICALLY changed and he was a faceoff stud. So if things go south in Boston how is Horton going to react? Chances are we have already seen how. That’s nothing against Boston of course, this can and likely has happened all over the NHL. Wideman can get better, he can learn how to deal with pressure and he really showed up in the playoffs. Plus the 15th overall pick. Solid move

by JMarushin on Jun 23, 2010 4:26 PM EDT reply actions

It depends what we do with Wideman

I see this as working several ways

1) We get deeper on the defense and Allen becomes a 5/6 man and it allows us to develop Kulikov at a reasonable pace

2) It allows us to trade McCabe, Ballard or Allen, hopefully for a forward. The first two are problematic because of their No Trade Clause, whilst Allen might only bring a limited return due to injuries

3) Could we actually move Wideman? In 2006, Tallon traded Mark Bell for a deal including Tom Preissing only to move him before he ever suited up for a deal including Martin Havlat. Wideman with no restrictions may just bring the best return – for example a trade with the Sharks for Ryane Clowe LW (6ft4, 227lbs) who is a Tallon type.

And with the No15, I see the Panthers moving around in the draft, both down and up with Tallon getting his type of players

by MagicDave on Jun 24, 2010 8:00 AM EDT reply actions

Allen's stock just went up...

…with the loss of Soup.

The Litter Box - Your Florida Panthers Colossus

by Donny Rivette on Jun 24, 2010 11:01 AM EDT reply actions

Sorry I’m not in the US so you’ll need to explain that one

by MagicDave on Jun 24, 2010 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Allen and Campbell were really the only “scrappers” on the roster, short of MacIntyre.

The Litter Box - Your Florida Panthers Colossus

by Donny Rivette on Jun 24, 2010 6:50 PM EDT up reply actions

We fixed that by drafting McIlrath.

I can imagine he’d scrap with himself in an empty room :)

by MagicDave on Jun 25, 2010 5:40 PM EDT up reply actions

wishful thinking … we can fix that … at No15 please

by MagicDave on Jun 25, 2010 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions

This killed me a night ago: I forgot to mention Nick Tarnasky. Sorry, Nick.

The Litter Box - Your Florida Panthers Colossus

by Donny Rivette on Jun 26, 2010 2:20 AM EDT up reply actions

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Southeast Standings

	GP	W	L	OTL	PT
Florida Litter Box Cats	55	27	17	11	65
Washington Japers' Rink	56	28	23	5	61
Winnipeg Arctic Ice Hockey	57	26	25	6	58
Tampa Bay Raw Charge	55	24	25	6	54
Carolina Canes Country	57	21	25	11	53

(updated 2.14.2012 at 3:50 AM EST)

Eastern Standings

	GP	W-L-OT	Pts
New York Rangers Blueshirt Banter	54	36-13-5	77
Boston Bruins Stanley Cup of Chowder	53	34-17-2	70
Florida Panthers Litter Box Cats	55	27-17-11	65
Philadelphia Flyers Broad Street Hockey	56	31-18-7	69
Pittsburgh Penguins PensBurgh	56	32-19-5	69
New Jersey Devils In Lou We Trust	55	31-20-4	66
Ottawa Senators Silver Seven	58	28-22-8	64
Toronto Maple Leafs Pension Plan Puppets	56	28-22-6	62
Washington Capitals Japers' Rink	56	28-23-5	61
Winnipeg Jets Arctic Ice Hockey	57	26-25-6	58
Montreal Canadiens Habs Eyes On The Prize	57	23-25-9	55
Tampa Bay Lightning Raw Charge	55	24-25-6	54
New York Islanders Lighthouse Hockey	55	23-24-8	54
Buffalo Sabres Die By The Blade	55	24-25-6	54
Carolina Hurricanes Canes Country	57	21-25-11	53

Florida Panthers Roster

	#	Pos.	DOB	W	H
Krys Barch	21	RW	3/26/1980	237	6-1
Sean Bergenheim	20	LW	2/8/1984	200	5-11
Matt Bradley	22	RW	6/13/1978	201	6-3
Brian Campbell	51	D	5/23/1979	189	6-0
Scott Clemmensen	30	G	7/23/1977	203	6-3
Keaton Ellerby	4	D	11/5/1988	220	6-4
Tomas Fleischmann	14	RW	5/16/1984	192	6-1
Jason Garrison	52	D	11/13/1984	216	6-2
Marcel Goc	57	C	8/24/1983	202	6-1
Erik Gudbranson	44	D	1/7/1992	195	6-4
Ed Jovanovski	55	D	6/26/1976	221	6-3
Tomas Kopecky	82	RW	2/5/1982	203	6-3
Dmitry Kulikov	7	D	10/29/1990	196	6-1
John Madden	10	C	5/4/1973	190	5-11
Jacob Markstrom	25	G	1/31/1990	178	6-3
Shawn Matthias	18	C	2/19/1988	216	6-4
Colby Robak	47	D	4/24/1990	194	6-3
Mikael Samuelsson	26	RW	12/23/1976	218	6-2
Mike Santorelli	13	C	12/14/1985	190	6-0
Jack Skille	12	RW	5/19/1987	215	6-1
Tyson Strachan	23	D	10/30/1984	215	6-2
Marco Sturm	16	LW	9/8/1978	194	6-0
Jose Theodore	60	G	9/13/1976	185	5-11
Scottie Upshall	19	RW	10/7/1983	200	6-0
Kris Versteeg	32	RW	5/13/1986	182	5-10
Mike Weaver	43	D	5/2/1978	186	5-9
Stephen Weiss	9	C	4/3/1983	193	5-11

Florida Panthers Injuries

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Jason Garrison	other-excused	02/13/2012

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Ed Jovanovski	hand	01/17/2012
Marco Sturm	knee	02/02/2012
Scottie Upshall	sports-hernia	01/25/2012
Dmitry Kulikov	knee	01/22/2012

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The Horton Deal: What they're saying

The Panthers...

..."Won" the deal: In the end it was uninspired, run-for-the-exit winger for 15th overall pick and top-four Dman

..."Lost" the deal: Horts is just hitting his prime; talent falls off sharply beyond top five or six picks

...and Bruins "evened out": similar salaries between Horts and Wideman, Bs get their scorer while Cats get that early pick

Waaaay too early to pass judgment

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