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Hopefully the Panthers will find quicker means to Finland
The Florida Panthers wrapped up the North American portion of their preseason adventure with a win against the Dallas Stars. Their schedule took them across Canada, with stops in Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, and Calgary, then heading south for a game in Dallas before wrapping it up with their lone home game in Sunrise. The Panthers ended their continental preseason with a nice 4-3-0 record, with two wins apiece against the Stars and Senators. The losses came to the Canadiens, Oilers, and Flames. David Booth continues to stand out for the Panthers, scoring four goals in four games. The Cats will head across the pond for two exhibition games against SM-Liiga (Finnish professional league) teams before opening the season in Helsinki against the Blackhawks.
There were some interesting developments in Pantherland over the past few days. First, Bryan McCabe has been named team captain. The Panthers went all of last season without a “C” on a jersey after the team’s last captain, Olli Jokinen, was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes in the summer of 2008. McCabe will be the 6thcaptain in team history (Brian Skrudland, Scott Mellanby, Paul Laus, Pavel Bure, and Jokinen have also worn the “C” for the Cats). McCabe has been a captain before, and has been at least an assistant captain on every team he has played for. He is not only a vocal leader in the locker room, but also on the ice. McCabe was 7thon the team in scoring last season with 15 goals and 24 assists, and played a key role on the power play. It sounded like an easy decision for head coach Pete DeBoer. “The selection of Bryan as the captain of our club was something that became obvious to our staff after working with him for the past year,” said DeBoer, according to a press release from the Panthers. “He exudes all of the attributes you look for in a leader and will be a natural extension of the coaches and our message into the dressing room.” Stephen Weiss and Cory Stillman were named the assistant captains.
Also noteworthy were the cuts that were made, and maybe even more interesting were those players who are still on the roster, after the Panthers’ last game. Two defencemen who are still hanging around are 2009 first round draft pick Dmitri Kulikov and rookie Jason Garrison. The Panthers do have six experienced d-men, so Kulikov and Garrison should be fighting for the 7thspot. Of those who did not make the cut, a couple names of note stand out. NHL veteran Martin Skoula was brought in on a tryout basis, but has been released. And then there is Evgeni Dadonov, who made waves by signing an NHL contract with the Panthers despite having contract issues with his KHL team. He was reassigned to the Panthers’ AHL affiliate. It does seem as though all issues have been resolved with Dadonov and his contract. It went far enough that the KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk initially sued the Panthers, and NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly responded to an email sent by south Florida newspaper Sun-Sentinel saying that Dadonov’s NHL contract is, indeed, official. “We’re pleased. This is a very good player,” acting GM Randy Sexton told Steve Gorten of the Sentinel. “He’s not ready to play in the NHL yet, I don’t believe, but he had a very good World Junior Championships; seven points in seven games. Equally important for me, he played on the top line.”
The Panthers will spend the upcoming week in Finland, first playing against Tampere on Monday, then Jokerit Helsinki on Wednesday. NHL regular season play begins on October 2nd, when the Panthers take on the Blackhawks.
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