Litter Box Cats, a Florida Panthers community

I’m a little concerned about the rats in the middle of the game. I know there’s a lot of Devil fans throwing them out there trying to get us a delay of game penalty there. I hope that’s something we can hold until the end of the game.

We won’t look past Tuesday [against the Jets]. I’ve been giving you the same schtick for a couple months now. But certainly, we’re excited.

Head Coach Dineen: Dmitry Kulikov had knee surgery [January 23]. Expected to be out 6-8 weeks

"We got our fingers crossed it's nothing too serious. Our doctors feel good that he'll be back in the swing of things fairly soon.''

We had half a dozen bodies in which that was their first game. I'm not big on making excuses, but fatigue played a factor. We also had a little chemistry issues. When things got frantic, we failed to settle down and right things.

"If we agree to disagree, I win because I’m the boss."

"You can say that you’ve got an open-door policy, but you know what? When there’s no door there it makes for a free flow of information both ways. It’s a little easier when you walk down the hallway instead of having to wonder what’s going on behind there. So I just asked them to take a couple of those doors off the hinges."

You can’t blame the overreaction to what Florida and decisive general manager Dale Tallon have done. I don’t. I get it. The Panthers have been flat-lining for years, ice symbolically melting in the tropical sun. When you last made the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2000 and last won a playoff game in 1997, you have forfeited any claim to relevance.

A decade-plus in a coma and the slightest murmur or eyelid twitch is big news — any change is good — so, naturally, the Panthers are right to feel reborn by the nine new players being introduced, along with the recent hiring of Kevin Dineen as coach.

"Stephen Weiss was drafted by the Panthers in 2001. Since then, he's spoken to six general managers and Dineen will be his seventh coach. That's got to stop, and the first steps look promising. Tallon's hiring gave the franchise credibility. Judging how several NHL executives view Kevin Dineen, the new coach's hiring was also a home run. He's nurtured the last three AHL rookies of the year, and there will be plenty of youth on the Florida roster."

I was thinking of going down the path of his announcement there, 'The Decision.' But it was a little too much flash for me.