With less than two days remaining before the National Hockey League rips out the transaction rug on playoff-bound and not-so-playoff-bound clubs alike – and with a Panthers match on tap for Tuesday evening (LBC GameThread at 6:30) – now seems as fine a time as any to ramp up the discussion regarding your own thoughts on just what the Cats could/should/must/no-way do before the 3 p.m. ET trading deadline Wednesday. We’ll be doing our annual all-day thing around 11 that morning so do stop by throughout the day, but as the hours tick past until then, there is certainly ground to cover. Rumors abound.
The Panthers currently have five soon-to-be unrestricted free agents at forward (Marcel Goc, Brad Boyes, Scott Gomez, Krys Barch & Jesse Winchester), two on the blueline (Mike Weaver & Tom Gilbert), and of course a further two in goal (Tim Thomas & Scott Clemmensen). A bevy of AHLish contracts await their own fates, including the likes of Mike Mottau, Matt Gilroy, Greg Rallo and others.
Anything can happen, and it doesn’t necessarily require the inclusion of someone with a pending-UFA status.
In what has been a frenetic start to the week with the departure of longtime exec Michael Yormark, one can safely assume GM Dale Tallon is perhaps finally a happy guy, slated to work alongside new CEO/Prez and reported “sports guy” Rory Babich (forgetting the spelling, any of you vets constantly see this dude when you hear that name?), and a happy Tallon is something we’ve seen little of since his hiring in 2010.
So as Wednesday’s deadline approaches, what are your (um, somewhat reasonable – and please utilize the goodness of CapGeek) transaction demands as the Panthers transition to yet another brave new world?