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Panthers waive D Ville Koistinen


Former Panthers general manager Randy Sexton's only misfire during his short one-season term has gone the route of the inevitable: Ville Koistinen's been waived.

Signed last July to a two-year, $2.4M (one-way!) contract, the former Predator and longtime Finnish League (Tampere) defenceman arrived in Sunrise amidst modest fanfare as a cheaper more financially efficient alternative to just-departed blueliner Karlis Skrastins. There may also have been the question of the Panthers heading to Helsinki for a big season-opening blowout jamboree without a single Finn on the roster, having allowed veteran winger Ville Peltonen to walk only weeks earlier. And this guy, unlike these days, was unavailable. Whatever: hole plugged.

Things were looking bright for Koistinen early on, at least in public: the kid scored a goal on his home turf in the opener (and the SO winner). That game had unfortunately turned out to be the only time he found the back of a net in Cats gear, as his relationship with Florida coach Peter DeBoer reportedly went into a deep freeze; he completed his 17-game tenure with the Panthers after compiling four points (including that single regulation goal), a +1, and 8 penalty minutes. Injury issues later capped his time in Rochester at eight games (1g-1a). The damage was already done, though; falling out of favor and tumbling quickly down the depth chart, he was rapidly deemed expendable. Good luck to him.

Poll
The "Koistinen Experiment" was a failure because...
...Sexton's staff didn't do their homework (rolled the dice on a Pred flameout)
32 votes
...Sexton's staff had no other options (club for sale, limited budget, etc)
20 votes
...Coach Pete didn't use him "correctly" (i.e. too much time at forward)
30 votes
...He flat sucked
75 votes

157 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  Comment 13 comments |

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Why did we pay this guy 1.2M anyways? were his expectations that high?

by Colt1235 on Jun 28, 2010 8:37 PM EDT reply actions  

Regardless, every planet in the solar system aligned against this guy. Rather bizarre.

by Donny Rivette on Jun 28, 2010 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions  

Sexton made other mistakes

Signing Scott Clemmensen was one.

As for Koistinen, did anyone notice how that series in Finland looked as if it was written in Helsinki Hollywood? Finnish players, Koistinen, and Niemi were the stars.

by Bill Jempty on Jun 28, 2010 10:09 PM EDT reply actions  

Again…planets aligned. Just on the other end of the solar system.

by Donny Rivette on Jun 28, 2010 10:33 PM EDT up reply actions  

Clemmensen’s a good backup at a not-ridiculous price. Paying a guy a million a year to sit in the press box and ultimately play in the minors is a mistake. Signing a good backup isn’t really a mistake. Signing a guy for $5 million plus and then playing him as the backup is a mistake (Hi, Dale!).

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

by Johnny B on Jun 28, 2010 10:57 PM EDT up reply actions  

Took Clemmer a lot longer than even he imagined to get into (Panthers) game shape, but he rocked the WC with his play in later games. He’ll be fine.

by Donny Rivette on Jun 28, 2010 11:14 PM EDT up reply actions  

LOL.

Sorry, guys.

On the Forecheck: preaching the Predators' gospel to the unwashed masses.
Twitter/Cycle Like the Sedins

by Chris Burton on Jun 29, 2010 8:28 AM EDT reply actions  

That predictable, eh? ;)

My policy with VK in Nashvegas was to just have a blindfold handy for when it was his shift, because I needed one and he was basically playing with one.

On the Forecheck: preaching the Predators' gospel to the unwashed masses.
Twitter/Cycle Like the Sedins

by Chris Burton on Jun 29, 2010 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions  

From what I remember he was a lot more poised in his own zone than guys twice his size. But ya, planets…

by pukeoncops on Jun 29, 2010 9:07 AM EDT reply actions  

Agreed. I didn’t think was too bad when playing his natural position. Sounds like he was Boynton’d.

by Donny Rivette on Jun 29, 2010 11:27 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions  

He was brought in because they didn’t think Kulikov was going to be ready, but then Pete DeBoer liked Kulikov better. And Garrison. That’s really what it was. If they sent Kulikov back to juniors, VK would have played more.

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

by Johnny B on Jun 29, 2010 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions  

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Southeast Standings

GP W L OTL PT
Washington 82 54 15 13 121
Atlanta 82 35 34 13 83
Carolina 82 35 37 10 80
Tampa Bay 82 34 36 12 80
Florida 82 32 37 13 77

(updated 4.12.2010 at 9:21 AM EDT)

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