The weekend’s upon us…most likely the final weekend of Jay Bouwmeester‘s employment with the Florida Panthers.
Where will he end up? What will the Cats get in return for his rights? Why does Miracle Whip have those little red dots in it?
- Are the Oilers drooling over local boy Bouwmeester going all UFA on the league? Not when a lack of scoring is their most pressing issue.
- Cats minority owner Bernie Kosar files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. What…no government bailouts for ex-athletes?
- Under the title of teams with “Money to Burn”,The Gazette’s Pat Hickey looks quickly at salary cap situations among the thirty clubs:
Florida ($38 million, 13 players): The Panthers will have to reload on defence. They have only three defencemen under contract and will have to replace Jay Bouwmeester and Nick Boynton.
W4E say: He’s dead on. Consider that Bryan McCabe, Keith Ballard, and a very rusty Bryan Allen are the Cats’ Wall of Incomplete Dreams going into free agency. Even Steve Eminger’s an RFA.
- This took a long, long time, didn’t it, considering the subject matter:/
Meanwhile, there are rumours (Toronto general manager Brian) Burke is interested in signing Florida Panthers free agent defenceman Jay Bouwmeester this summer.
- THN’s Bob McKenzie sees some similarities between this year’s Tavares/Hedman tandem and Nash/Bouwmeester of the 2002 Entry Draft.
- Curious just how close Stephen Weiss came to challenging Pavel Datsyuk for the Lady Byng? You really are a fan.
- More Bouwmeester-to-the-Flyers drivel and Homer’s repetitive “I believe (Florida) can’t sign him” exultations.
Forgeting where he ultimately chooses to land come July 1st, where do the Panthers trade Bouwmeester’s rights prior to the Free Agency period?
| Philadelphia | 24 |
| Los Angeles | 2 |
| Calgary | 9 |
| Toronto | 2 |
| Dallas (today’s dark-horse) | 4 |
| Vancouver | 7 |
| Edmonton | 4 |
| Washington | 1 |
| Other | 3 |