Bouwmeester: 'Can Someone Describe the Post-Season to Me?': Steve Zipay has an interesting item: "With the trade of Olli Jokinen, a person close to Jay Bouwmeester told Newsday that the defenseman wants out of Florida. Unsure whether — or when — the Rangers can get him here, but...... , posted on June 26, 2008 more

C. Everett Koop: 'Don't Split the Sedins!': I wish I could get more into the NHL draft. It all seems so speculative. You won't know which teams won the draft for years. It does seem fairly certain Evgeni Malkin isn't getting traded to the Kings for a...... , posted on June 20, 2008 more

Tampa: 'Hey Flyers! Do You Want Insurance on that Rental?': I don't know if anyone in the NHL head office is actively looking for a new project, but if anyone is, he should look into boomerang trades (where an NHL team trades a player away, only for the player to...... , posted on June 19, 2008 more

The Early Golfers: I think it's kind of funny that Olli Jokinen is always on the block, yet Florida never trades him when they have the chance. It's just so weird. The playoffs just started and already there are rumors he'll be traded...... , posted on April 09, 2008 more

Spin-o-rama: David Pollak has a nice history/overview of the Spin-o-rama. Relatively new San Jose Shark defenseman Brian Campbell is a big fan of the move. He's even scored with it. Pollak credits Blackhawk Denis Savard with popularizing the move, but I...... , posted on March 20, 2008 more

Let's Not Go to the Video Tape: So what is Chad Kilger's end-game exactly? He's been suspended by the Panthers for not showing up from Toronto. I'm kind of curious why Florida even wants him to show up. I thought they'd just pretend they weren't expecting him....... , posted on March 06, 2008 more

The Big Picture: I love how GMs very rarely see the big picture. They'll take a small edge today and give up something bigger for the future. I'm actually not even talking about the NHL. Look at what happened when the Nets tried...... , posted on February 18, 2008 more

Buffa-Lucky: Florida Panther Richard Zednick, slashed in the neck by teammate Olli Jokinen Sunday night, is stable and expected to recover. Zednick is expected to be out the rest of the season. Doctors said luck was the only reason Zednick didn't...... , posted on February 12, 2008 more

Panthers: 'Of Course We'd Love to Own the Brooklyn Bridge. This Sounds Like a Very Exciting Opportunity': Say what you will about the Florida Panthers, you have to love any team that admits a certain trade is horrible. You know. Like an injured Todd Bertuzzi for goalie Roberto Luongo. For such a great goalie, Luongo sure does...... , posted on October 08, 2007 more

KC Blues: When I first read former Panthers coach Doug MacLean was part of the group buying the Tampa Lightning, my first thought was that the Bolts were out of Florida. George Richards says they're staying put, though. I was kind of...... , posted on August 08, 2007 more

Panthers Go Back to the Future: The Bruins have new uniforms. Also, I love how psyched the Panthers are to have goalie Tomas Vokoun (login info.). After all, the missing piece of the Panthers' puzzle has been goaltending for quite a while now. They've just never...... , posted on June 26, 2007 more

Putting the Row in Romance: I can hardly even think about the playoffs knowing there's a line of hockey-themed romance novels. There are a ton of great titles, like THE PENALTY BOX and CHASING STANLEY. And I'm proud to announce that I'll be contributing to...... , posted on April 10, 2007 more

Evolutionary Hockey-ology: So the Flyers are having a tough year. But don't worry. They have a plan. They're going to try and sign some big free agents next season (login info.). You know. Because Derian Hatcher and Peter Forsberg and Petr Nedved...... , posted on January 19, 2007 more

Bad Backs, Bad Schedules: Todd Bertuzzi is having back surgery, meaning he'll be out for at least two months. I'm guessing Jacques Martin is going to check into migraine surgery. Also, Al Strachan hears the NHL is going to reduce the number of divisional...... , posted on November 03, 2006 more

Lord Stanley's Gravy: OK. First things first. Thanks to Murph at Islanders Army for taking yesterday's "Who's the Bossy" post and bringing it to life. Obviously, Murph is a genius. In other news, the Miami Herald reports Joe Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts have...... , posted on October 10, 2006 more

Happy Labor Day!: This is just an American holiday, right? Enjoy it anyway! And speaking of labor, how about Mike Keenan leaving Florida? Knowing Keenan's past, you have to wonder if he has another gig lined up somewhere. Of course, since the season...... , posted on September 04, 2006 more

ECHL Player of the Year Does Well in Arbitration: Scott Gomez gets $5 million for a 33 goal, 51 assist season. The Devils actually got off pretty easy. Too bad they only have like $20 worth of cap space left. I think everyone is waiting to see if the...... , posted on July 26, 2006 more

Draft Dodging: I'm not much of a draft person, but I love me some trades! Todd Bertuzzi for Roberto Luongo? The most shocking part of that trade was that Luongo was actually looking to sign a contract in Florida (login info.). Hasn't...... , posted on June 26, 2006 more

Trade Is Over: Geez. I find the trade deadline so draining. The big shocks: Florida hanging on to Olli Jokinen and Chris Gratton, while not dealing goalie Roberto Luongo. So apparently they really want to keep together this core that has produced 24...... , posted on March 10, 2006 more

Make Trade Fair: Tim Panaccio's solution to this whole 'What should the NHL do about the Olympics' debate? It's pretty smart, actually. He says to move hockey to the summer Olympics (login info.). Just like basketball. I don't know how the whole ice...... , posted on March 06, 2006 more

Devil of a Sell: The move of the season (so far) has been New Jersey locking in Martin Brodeur. This is a team that had a very bad season in terms of free-agent signings. I imagine a lot of players are a little bit...... , posted on January 30, 2006 more

¿Dondé Está Forechecking?: Ross McKeon had an interesting piece on how teams with less talent are learning to survive in the new NHL. He says pouncing on mistakes is the new trap (the defensive system — not what you use to catch bears)....... , posted on January 06, 2006 more

New Year, New News, Good Times: There are a lot of great hockey tidbits floating around out there, this weekend. Larry Brooks reports that the CBA has a provision that allows incentives to come off of the cap, once they can no longer be met (login...... , posted on January 02, 2006 more

Boston: 'We Get to Buy the Whole Bridge? That's Wicked Awesome!': OK. It's official. I really don't understand the new NHL. The Bruins trading Joe Thornton to San Jose for Wayne Primeau, Marco Sturm and Brad Stuart? That's just shocking. Is Boston worried about being too successful? Did they not want...... , posted on December 01, 2005 more

Low-Balling Luongo: So the Panthers won the battle and lost the war. They went to arbitration with goalie Roberto Luongo and Luongo got one year for $3.2 million. He's still under contract for two more seasons, though, so Florida has to go...... , posted on August 26, 2005 more

Things I Never Thought I'd See: Here is a list of things I never thought I'd see: Peter Forsberg in a Flyers sweater. I guess you can go home again. A team made up entirely of centers, aka the Toronto Maple Leafs. An awful team actively...... , posted on August 16, 2005 more

Free Agents; More Chili: So the first day of free agency was a bit quiet. The Florida Pathers signed Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk (login info.). I really get the feeling Roberts and Nieuwendyk wanted to a) still play together and b) play someplace...... , posted on August 02, 2005 more

Thornton Going South for Next Season?: Larry Brooks from the New York Post (and reading today's entries, the Post is fast becoming my only source of hockey information) says Joe Thornton wants out of Boston. Brooks says Thornton is pissed that Boston didn't protect him from...... , posted on July 06, 2004 more

Keenan's Baaack: It wasn't one of hockey's best kept secrets, but in case you didn't hear, Mike Keenan, fired in November as coach of the Florida Panthers, was brought back as GM yesterday (l:kcstar@mailinator.com;p:please). You can't make this stuff up. Coaching for...... , posted on May 27, 2004 more

Panthers Coach Hunting: Interesting... Jim Kelley reports the Florida Panthers are courting Tampa Bay Lightning assistant coach Craig Ramsay to coach the Panthers. The only hitch? Ramsay can't be sprung until the Lightning's season ends. And they're playing so well, that could be...... , posted on November 14, 2003 more

Keenan Fired: Wow. The Panthers fired coach Mike Keenan. Keenan was involved in a perpetual death match with his GM, Rick Dudley, but it seemed owner Alan Cohen wanted both of them running the team. So neither was ever fired. But there...... , posted on November 10, 2003 more

Bure Foils Panthers: Does Valeri Bure have any idea what he's worth? Probably not. Why else would he refuse to restructure the last year of his contract? The Panthers are trying to free up some money to sign a veteran defenseman of some...... , posted on August 13, 2003 more

Worrell Sad to Leave Florida: So if you buy a nice car, you get a good car alarm, right? You've got to protect your valuables. The same thing applies in hockey. The Colorado Avalanche have a lot of valuables on the ice now (Paul Kariya,...... , posted on July 21, 2003 more

Florida's Number One (Pick, That Is): This upcoming draft is deep and everyone wants a piece of it. The biggest prize? Rookies who are ready to play in the NHL. Why? Because they're cheap. The Islanders are supposed to be in the hunt for Russian winger...... , posted on June 18, 2003 more

Draft Dodgers: The Florida Panthers may not win games, but they win where it counts — the draft. The Florida Panthers won the first pick in this year's draft (for the second year in a row). The Panthers got Jay Bouwmeester last...... , posted on April 08, 2003 more

Coach Switch in Florida?: So the Panthers fired assistant coaches Paul Baxter and George Kingston. That's not a big deal. Well maybe to them, but not to me. But look who they hired to replace them: Duane Sutter (fired as Florida's coach in 2001)...... , posted on March 07, 2003 more

Full Bench: OK. Maybe it says a little too much about me, but isn't it amazing that Florida Panther Valeri Bure is married to Candace Cameron (formerly of FULL HOUSE)? I just read that in this week's Hockey News and it blew...... , posted on March 07, 2003 more

Deconstructing Keenan: The Sun-Sentinel has an interesting take on Mike Keenan's coaching. Basically, Michael Russo wonders if Keenan's too anti-European to be an effective coach of a very European team. Russo also takes Kennan to task for demanding players be traded when...... , posted on February 19, 2003 more

Ducks Might Save California Sports: Who woulda thunk it? According to the LA Times, the Southern California sports team with the best chance of a playoff appearance is the Ducks. Yeah, Disney wants to sell them, but by picking up Sandis Ozolinsh, they're really trying...... , posted on February 05, 2003 more

Florida: 'What Do You Mean You Want to be Paid?': More new on the Sandis Ozolinsh trade. Number one because I don't understand why Florida let him go for so little and number two because nothing else is going on in hockey (unless you count that synchronized skating event they...... , posted on February 03, 2003 more

Ozolinish Traded: Wow. It's a big week for Florida defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. He's an All-Star starter and he's going to California. Florida traded him (and left wing/defenseman Lance Ward) to Anaheim for center Matt Cullen, defenseman Pavel Trnka and a fourth-round pick...... , posted on January 31, 2003 more

The NHL Business Report: Who's Broke?: You know, some days I'm just really glad I listened to Sally Struthers and got my MBA through the mail. Today is one of those days. The Florida Panthers might be the latest NHL team with financial problems. Broward County,...... , posted on January 29, 2003 more

Clawless Panthers: I don't understand how Florida can ever play hockey again after losing to the painfully average Capitals 12-2. Most shocking of all, Florida coach Mike Keenan didn't explode: "I think it's so off the chart that you just pack your...... , posted on January 13, 2003 more

The Goalie as a Performance Evaluation: This column is kind of interesting. According to David J. Neal, a coach's fate rests in the hands (or pads) of their goalie. In other words, bad goalie=fired coach. I don't know, though. Maybe bad coaches make for bad goalies....... , posted on December 30, 2002 more

Mike Keenan and Disposable Goalies: The gang over at Hockey Pundits had a link to this story about Roberto Luongo's troubles in Florida. Apparently he's having a rough time. Coach Mike Keenan isn't giving Luongo regular starts and is also micromanaging his butterfly goaltending style....... , posted on November 29, 2002 more

Just Wondering...: Does anyone else think Florida took center Jaroslav Bednar and defenseman Andreas Lilja from the Kings for veteran defenseman Dmitry Yushkevich and a draft pick because Panther coach Mike Keenan finds younger players easier to browbeat and brainwash? Um yeah....... , posted on November 27, 2002 more

Battle of the First Round Draft Picks: I thought Florida meeting Columbus for the first time this season would be more exciting since you had two first-round draft picks (Florida's Jay Bouwmeester vs. Columbus's Rick Nash) going at it. But it was about as boring as you...... , posted on October 22, 2002 more

Bouwmeester Signs: Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, who should have been the first pick in the draft, got his contract junk worked out with Florida, so he'll play in the NHL this year. I'm very curious what kind of impact he'll have on this...... , posted on October 08, 2002 more

Bure Knee: Gotta love those Bure knees! Valeri Bure is having a doctor take a look at his sore knee. No one expects it to be anything serious, even if he needs arthroscopic surgery. Valeri's brother, New York Ranger Pavel Bure, had...... , posted on October 03, 2002 more