It's Here!

The Florida Panthers start their Season and Home opener tonight versus the Ottawa Senators. The team is heading into its 4^th year with Dylan at the helm (3^rd full year) and more is expected of this team than last year.

 The Florida general manager spent the offseason trying to improve the team that went 17-65-4 last year, leading them to the bottom of the league. Doing so he brought in Travis Zajac at the draft and signed veterans Brian Campbell, Steve Sullivan and Owen Nolan in free agency.  The team also changed the coaching staff, firing Ron Wilson after an abysmal first year, and they brought on young head coach, Joe Sacco.  “We feel good about everything we’ve done. We have a new atmosphere, we have a lot of solid rookies coming into the lineup this year, we have a new captain and we brought in a lot of established and talented players also. We got a new system in place with our new head coach and we are really looking to put the fans back in the seats this year. We can’t wait for this to begin,” said an eager GM Wilson.

The team announced their starting lineup for the 1^st game. Rookie Matt Duchene will take the top line with Blake Comeau and the surprising to even make the lineup, Luca Caputi( www.youtube.com/watch). The 2^nd line features a bunch of new faces with Zajac centering veterans Steve Sullivan and Owen Nolan.  The bottom lines have Smithson playing with Clarkson and rookie Viktor Stalberg , and Tim Brent playing with Teddy Purcell and RFA signing Joey Crabb. Wade Belak and Chris Durno will both be held on as extra forwards. “We really liked what we saw from Caputi this training camp and we want to see more from him and that’s why he made the team, Duchene was great with Comeau and we feel this can be a deadly line.  Other than that there should be no surprises, Ennis isn’t ready and Crabb is being rewarded with having a great camp but don’t be surprised to see Belak and Durno slot into that spot,” said coach Sacco.

 The defense is probably the strength of this team. Captain Brian Campbell will pair up with rookie Carl Gunnarsson and Cam Barker will also slot in with a rookie in Michael Del Zotto. The bottom pairing holds the 9 million dollar man, Wade Redden, who will pair up with the surprising Joe Callahan. If you don’t remember Callahan, he was the surprise 6^th defenseman two years ago when he made the Panthers team, and it looks like he’s done it again. “Joe just continues to impress us, he was solid all around and he continues to fight for a roster spot. He made the team, and that’s a big reason why we could let Brendan Witt go earlier this week.  Him, Lebda and Redden will probably be in a dogfight for the final pairing every night and it should create some good competition,” said Dylan. And in net the team announced Steve Mason will get the 1^st start, and Dipietro will get the next.

 “We feel good with this team, we are no longer sellers and it’s great to see us finally pushing for the win every night. Playoffs may be a reach but in the end that’s our goal and these players will give it their all to do so,” and when asked how they are on the trade front, “We are going to be as quiet as we can be right now. We got a lot of interest in Zajac but we aren’t looking to make any moves now. That doesn’t mean we’re open though, if a trade makes complete sense on the future of this franchise then it’s hard not to talk. But as it stands we want to spend a month or two before we even consider buying or selling.”

 Be quick to go to ticketmaster as tonight’s season opener tickets are at a reduced price to fill the stands and to get a loud crowd in. Tonight should be a good night and we hope you look forward to the rest of the season.