Panthers Weekend Links: Higgins, Sexton, and a rebuild-fail vote
by Donny Rivette on Jul 2, 2010 8:06 PM EDT
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PrintSome news, notes, and unsolicited opinions from around the interwebs to close out what's been a hectic week:
- Former Panthers general manager Randy Sexton is no longer with the organization. We covered some of the ups and downs - but mostly ups - of his time on the hot seat back when Dale Tallon was hired. Wish he could have found a permanent place within the ranks, since he was a brilliant set-up man for Tallon's blink-and-you-missed-another-pick draft performance, but being the product of a former regime, it's understandable things turned out this way. We wish him the very best in his future endeavours. Pittsburgh, perhaps?
- Speaking of Tallon, any of the names on this list appear familiar? Freakin' busy dude.
- Filling the spot Sexton relinquished a year ago, Mike Santos was named Florida's assistant general manager on Thursday, leaving his gig as director of hockey ops with the Predators. Santos previously held a couple of other titles with the Cats about five GMs ago. Pre-Keenan, of course. Welcome to Mike and his family.
- Keith at LGA seems cautiously optimistic about future relations between Rochester and Florida.
- Chuck Weber is interested in that open head coaching hole in Rochester. Two ECHL championships should get him noticed.
- Enjoyed Steve MacIntyre's theatrics throughout the year? Want to see more of well, whatever it was he did? Head west, where he'll be slurping up his 90 seconds of ice time per game with the Oilers. Again.
- New Panthers forward Christopher Higgins is saying all the right things: "Dale taking over was pretty appealing to me. I want to prove myself to a new organization that has high hopes for their players...I think Dale will put his fingerprint on the organization and he wanted me to come and be a part of it."
- ESPN's LeBrun on Higgins: "(He will) parlay a bounce-back season into a bigger contract a year from now. There was actually some good interest in the UFA forward, including from the team he left, Calgary." If little else, the Cats are finally acknowledged as a more levelheaded destination than the Flames.
- Tallon on his evolving port wing: "(David) Booth and Higgins on the left side, that's pretty good."
- Saw a rumor earlier Friday regarding current assistant coach Mike Kitchen hooking up with the Blackhawks. True or not, he's likely a goner in Sunrise. Jim Hulton is indeed remaining.
- The Panthers are evidently confident about their chances against the first two opponents of the upcoming season. Oh, wait...
- Not much of a love connection between The Puck Stops Here and Florida's rebuild effort since it began in, um, June: "Dale Tallon is taking over as Florida Panther GM and being forced to slash payroll, as a result his team probably will not be able to compete in the NHL. Unless Tallon pulls off a miracle, look for his run in Florida to yield unpleasant results on the ice and possibly be unpleasantly short for Tallon." Alrighty then.
- And lastly, get to know Chris Higgins, via YouTube. Zach Parise did.
Have a wonderful weekend, folks.
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Nah…don’t give up on KK. Puck Stops Here is only one of the ancillary writers.
by Donny Rivette on Jul 2, 2010 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Meant to type “he”, of course.
by Donny Rivette on Jul 3, 2010 10:26 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
No more Big Mac......
Sooooooooooooo who is our Enforcer Now…..
Rochester has Grant
to replace Mac and Bonneau and add some leadership to that team. But who is going to stand up for the Panthers on ice…..We’ve traded Tarnasky, Mac and Soup { little enforcer}
Tarnasky and MacIntyre were allowed to walk – not trades. But point taken.
Isn’t the idea along the lines of bringing in large, physical players who can make up for a lack of a certified goon? That’s the impression I was under.
by Donny Rivette on Jul 3, 2010 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions
Of course that’s been DeBoer’s strategy all along, but he wasn’t given the assets with which to implement it.
by Donny Rivette on Jul 3, 2010 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions
I hate goons. I don’t see why a team with a lack of offensive talent can afford to waste a space on a player who will play at most 3 minutes in any given game.
That’s the kind of luxury the Penguins could take or the Capitals, not us.
And I am fully a fan of Deboer’s plan concerning this. Why waste roster space on a player whose best offensive days were in his Bantam days…
by panthersfan27 on Jul 3, 2010 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions
I hate goons too....
But guys like Chris Neil and Dan Carcillo…..don’t forget Hartnell………These guys can Fight AND play Hockey and do both Well…….Now that’s what I’m Talkin’ about !!
Boynton and Montador would qualify as B-listers
by Donny Rivette on Jul 3, 2010 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions
How can a person with a handle such as LAUSMAN
hate goons? For that matter, guys like Chris Neil, Carcillo and Hartnell play on teams that have a heavyweight enforcer on their roster during the regular season (Ottawa – Matt Carkner, Flyers – Riley Cote)…Neil can hang with most heavyweights, Carcillo is an Avery type and Hartnell, I like the guy but he isn’t a good fighter unless vs middleweight Tarnasky types.
I know some teams can get away without an enforcer (Red Wings) but most suffer down the stretch because they get pushed around, intimidated, etc. DeBoers has been trying the ‘team toughness’ angle for a while now and it hasn’t worked. Allen hates fighting. Grant will probably play 30 games if he’s lucky. Oh and look at Atlanta…they are loading up big time. Should be fun to see Weiss and Booth get molested by them while the rest of the team starts looking for someone to do the group toughness thing
I don't consider Paul Laus a goon...
He was a smart player …not much O…But logged a Whole lot more ice time than a goon….A steady leader……and for his size and the size of his hand [I shook it]….Not very many wanted to tangle with him..I remember the classic with Big Bob Probert and Laus literally beat the snot out of him….He took on many larger players and always fought respectable .We didn’t get pushed around then and we made it to the Stanley Cup Finals then. ….He went toe to toe with the best of them and lost very few fights..THEY FOUGHT THE LAW A ND THE LAUS WON !.
I think that Gudbranson will step in after big hits and such. I dont want him fighting too much but he will make most guys think twice
That’s the idea: a team built primarily around the concept of making the opposition think twice.
by Donny Rivette on Jul 3, 2010 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions
thanks for the info
2009 NY Phin PhansFantasy League Champion
2009 Best Regular Season Record in NYPPL.
2010 The Jim Mandich NewsFlash Award Winner.
""It only ends once. Everything that comes before is just progress"
panthers signing of higgins - disappointing
I am a Panthers fan and I think they could have spent $1.6M better than acquiring a hack like Higgins. By most accounts, the man has no work ethic and seems to spend more time trolling for action and beering it up than he does working on his craft which is what he gets paid to do. He was once a player with so much promise….. There are available players out there with more to offer in my estimation. One can only hope that Higgins will spend some time working to improve his play before the season begins. He has sucked for the past 3 years and anyone who follows hockey knows it. Maybe he had a “come to jesus” session with panthers management that will give him a kick in the ass to motivate him to improve his play ?…..
the man has no work ethic and seems to spend more time trolling for action and beering it up
Care to elaborate on that?
by Donny Rivette on Jul 3, 2010 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions
your comments
no… but I have read this more than once in newspapers,,, cannot recall which ones…. while he was in NYR…
Okay…so in other words, you don’t have basis for this?
by panthersfan27 on Jul 3, 2010 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d never heard anything like what you’re saying about him. Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, but a link to any of it would be awfully helpful.
He was only with the Rags for less than a season.
by Donny Rivette on Jul 3, 2010 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Here it is...Price got a lot of bad press out of it
by Donny Rivette on Jul 3, 2010 1:58 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, I’m sold…..time to be negative about Mr. Higgins, because he is having fun at a Halloween party……not! Unless there are substantiating proof that he does nothing but “beering it up” (besides a Halloween party or get-togethers during the off season), I will hold my opinions on him until I see what he brings to the table this coming season.
DeBoers has been trying the ‘team toughness’ angle for a while now and it hasn’t worked.
It hasn’t worked because the roster didn’t realistically reflect that strategy. As I said earlier, Coach Pete wasn’t given the proper pieces to work with.
Not bashing these guys by any means – nor predicting their respective futures – but Dvorak, Olesz, Reinprecht, Weiss, Koistinen, Ballard, Zednik, Kreps, Taffe, Ellerby, to name a few – are not likely to fall into anyone’s definition of “Team Toughness”.
RE – LAUSFAN, yes he opened up Probert very good, and I remember his KO of Berube. Wish the Panthers had a guy like that on the team. Defensemen who can fight and play make the best enforcers imo…
RE- Donny,- I agree that Buffy St. Jacques Martin effed the roster up big time but once the hit was put on Booth, I felt something should have been done to address that long term…instead, they (Sexton?) grab Big Mac, play him a few games then send him back to Rochester. The Panthers continued to get smacked around by other teams throughout the season. So far I don’t think this roster reflects a bunch cohesive enough to implement ‘team toughness’ (agh I really hate that term)….The Atlantic and NE divisions have all kinds of goons, meatbags, bodyguards, puttin on the foil types….why is it so wrong to want the same for the Panthers, especially after Booth went full retard from the hit by Richards?
btw not asking you personally why it’s so wrong to have an enforcer….aimed moreso at the "We don’t need a waste of roster space’ types on this thread
No, I get where you’re coming from.
MacIntyre was a knee-jerk reaction pickup following the first Booth hit. If the “toughness” philosophy was implemented correctly, 3/4 of the FLA roster would have been turned over. The point being that the Panthers were nowhere near built for toughness as a whole. Over time with the right moves they can achieve it.
As for “goons” around the EC, does anyone think Boogard – forget his contract – is going to get more ice time than Mac did? I’m referring to straight-out goons here, not the Neil-types. I happen to be a fan of allowing the younglings to earn spots, as long as they are watching the backs of their mates.
If the Cats can collectively gain one inch and ten pounds (and a healthy heaping of snarl), the scenario begins to skew in DeBoer’s favor.
by Donny Rivette on Jul 3, 2010 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions
DITTO and DITTO again
Donny…..AnusP ……and me are ALL in the same corner now…………the last 4 posts are spot on !
Higgins
Courtesy of the Mother Ship, check out some of his recent goals:
http://panthers.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?hlp=8470274
Quick. Release. And he ad-libs rather well.
Finally doing a little background on Grant and Thomas (09-10)
Triston Grant, LW (with MIL/AHL): 74gp 12g-13a-25p 236pim(!!!)
Bill Thomas, RW (SPR/AHL): 33gp 5g-12a-17p 14pim
Randy Sexton
is now the new assistant director of amateur scouting for the Penguins.
Florida Panthers: Giving the league a punching bag since 2000.
He’ll make the best of that opportunity. I have nothing but respect for him given the handcuffs placed on him during his tenure here.
by Donny Rivette on Jul 4, 2010 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions
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