Panthers Attack Deadline

 For a team that said they would be quiet, the Florida Panthers ended with the exact opposite at the end of the deadline. By the end of the day the Panthers had made 8 trades, beginning and ending the day with trades between them and the Pittsburgh Penguins. “We are not sure how we got so busy. We had about 2 or 3 ongoing talks before the deadline and we thought we may be lucky to get 1 or 2 of those done, but by the end of the day we got all 3 of those trades done and even completed some trades we didn’t expect to happen going in.”

 The first deal saw the team trade skilled Russian prospect, Maxim Kitsyn, along with a 5^th next year for former 1^st rounder, Trevor Lewis and then later in the day traded a 4^th next year and a 5^th this year for their own 4^th this year from the Pens. The move seemed to be the first of the day showing the teams progression to be competitive for next year. “It was a shame that we had to deal a guy we were very high on in Kitsyn. But we are very confident in Lewis’s abilities and he already does a lot of the little things right and is defensively sound and we do see the potential in his offense and we hope to see it more next year.”

 The team then managed to deal two of their veterans that they were trying to unload before the deadline, with Rick Dipietro heading to New Jersey for a 2^nd and Brian Rolston going to the Kings for a 3^rd.  With the moves the Panther’s successfully removed 9.1 million from their cap for next year. “It was a financial move to trade both of them and neither of them would have gotten a good opportunity with us next year so its best for both to move on to get those chances and we wish them the best of luck with their new teams.”

 The team then made another trade in continuing looking towards next year, by acquiring tough winger Mike Brown from the Flyers for a 4^th round pick. The quick bruising winger will certainly be a fixture on the teams 4^th line and PK next year. The team also acquired Vyacheslav Kozlov and David Meckler from Buffalo for cash. “We were really happy to bring on Brown as we feel he has the attitude and feistiness that we are sorely missing from our 4^th line and will be a very strong piece for us heading into next year. As for the Kozlov deal, we helped out a friend by taking some cap space away and managed to pick a young player in Meckler that has the potential to be a 4^th line NHL player and we have the money to do so.”

 The team then made their most shocking deal of the day, by trading top prospect David Rundblad to Calgary for prospects Jonathon Merrill and Emerson Etem. The team had always been high on Rundblad so it was shocking to see him go, but the team has always liked Merrill and have missed him since trading him to Dallas back in November for Luke Schenn. “It was a tough deal to make as we always liked Rundblad and feel has the potential to be a top D in this league but we already have a few top D so it made sense to deal from a position of strength. In return we got a great talent in Merrill who we drafted and feel he’s going to be a very good defenseman in this league and we also picked up another very good prospect in Etem and will really add to the depth of our wings.”

Drawing closer to the deadline the team made a push for defenseman Jack Hillen and succeeded by acquiring him and a 5^th for a 2^nd (acquired in the Dipietro trade) and prospect AJ Jenks. The trade seemed like a continuing trend for the team building for next year. “We really only had 3, maybe 4 defenseman ready for next year and by adding Hillen, it’s just one less hole to fill in the summer and fits our strategy as he is still a young player and builds strong depth for us. It may have been a high price to pay but we are happy with him in the fold and we feel this is another trade putting us in a position for a strong push next year.”

 With being 21 points out of 8^th, it seems like the Panthers once again will be looking towards another top pick. But the team has stated that they will be aggressive buyers this summer and are promising their loyal fans, who even despite their record have the highest average attendance in the MRFHL, that this team will be in the playoff hunt next year.