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Geregistreerd op: 21 Mrt 2019
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 Geplaatst: 23-04-2019 04:56:48 Onderwerp: The Florida Panthers had money to spend in free agency, and |
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| The Florida Panthers had money to spend in free agency, and loaded up, bringing in four forwards, one defenceman and a goaltender on the first day of free agency. James Rodriguez Jersey . Numbers Game looks at the Panthers big first day of free agency. The Panthers Get: LW Jussi Jokinen, C Dave Bolland, C, Derek MacKenzie, RW Shawn Thornton, D Willie Mitchell, G Al Montoya. The Florida Panthers headed into the offseason giving general manager Dale Tallon more financial freedom than theyve had in recent seasons, and he wasted no time spending that money, with mixed results. Jokinen, 31, had a strong season playing on Evgeni Malkins wing in Pittsburgh, scoring 57 points in 81 games, the second-best point total of his career. That situation is not a luxury that Jokinen can count on in Florida where, despite their young talent, they have no one in Malkins class, but Jokinen has shown that he can be a productive contributor with solid possession numbers when playing with skilled players. Slot him alongside young Finn Aleksander Barkov and that has the makings of a solid two-way line and maybe Jokinen isnt likely to be scoring 50-plus points in Florida, where no one scored even 40 points last season, but Jokinen can be a useful player for at least three of the four years for which he signed, at a total cost of $16-million. Then, things got silly. Coming into free agency, there was a natural connection to make between Dave Bolland and Panthers GM Dale Tallon, given their time together in Chicago, but Bolland is a third-line centre so its really hard to justify the kind of money and term that was given. Bolland signed a five-year, $27.5-million contract, and its just flat-out outrageous. Bolland played well with the Maple Leafs last season, at least he did when he was healthy, but hes missed 142 games over the past five seasons and is coming off a season in which he missed 59 games due to a sliced ankle tendon. At his best, Bolland has been productive, scoring more than 35 points three times, and handled a lot of tough assignments in terms of zone starts and quality of competition, but assuming that hes up to that level now, after his latest injury, seems a tad optimistic and paying money and term that is more typical of a top-six forward is just really difficult to digest. For a checking centre, he also hasnt been very good at limiting shots against while killing penalties. Sure, the Panthers are nowhere near the cap now, and maybe they never will be, but its hard to take a team from being also-rans to contenders simply by paying a checking centre a boatload of money. By contrast, Paul Stastny and Thomas Vanek were the only two free agent forwards to come at a higher cap hit and neither one signed for five years. They didnt get as much term as Dave Bolland. MacKenzie, a 33-year-old checking centre, has been a reliable fourth-liner for the Blue Jackets. He had a career-high 237 hits last season and in four seasons with the Blue Jackets, hes won 54.9% of his draws. Signed for three years and $3.9-million, MacKenzie gives the Panthers good depth down the middle and it looks like Bolland and MacKenzie are going to bump prospects like Brandon Pirri and Vince Trocheck down the depth chart, presumably right out of the Top 12 unless they can fit on the wing. Shawn Thornton is a tough guy whose game has been declining in recent seasons. Hes fought 90 times over the past six seasons, but thats about what the 36-year-old (who turns 37 later this month) can do at this point. Whether thats worth more than a million dollars per season or multiple years probably has different answers for teams that arent trying to reach the salary floor. After missing the entire 2012-2013 season, Willie Mitchell had a nice comeback season, playing more than 20 minutes a night, a crucial part of the Kings second Stanley Cup win in the past three seasons. Hes 37, so not the fleetest afoot, but Mitchell has size, strength and adds a shot of reliability to the Panthers defence. In Mitchell and Brian Campbell (at least for now), the Panthers have a couple veterans that could show the way for first overall draft pick Aaron Ekblad and Mitchell, while a decent addition gets a nice payday -- two years, $8.5-million -- to eat some minutes on the Panthers blueline. Backup goaltender Al Montoya is a 29-year-old who posted a .920 save percentage in 28 games with the Jets last season. Trouble is, in the prevous two seasons, his save percentage was .894, so its not really reasonable to expect more than Montoyas career average which is .910. Adding Montoya would figure to mark the end of Dan Ellis time in Florida, though it may be difficult to find a taker for a 34-year-old coming off the worst season of his career. The Florida Panthers spent big money in the summer of 2011, overpaying a bunch of veterans in order to reach the salary floor, and this year has a similar feel to it. The issue for the Panthers is that they are a franchise that has reached the postseason once in the past 13 years; they dont need to overpay free agents as much as they need to build a stable base of talent. With all the money the Panthers spent on July 1, theres not much reason to believe any of those players are going to be long-term answers. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Kingsley Coman Bayern Munich Jersey .Then came December.Three straight losses, including a crushing 27-24 defeat to Washington (4-11) on Saturday, has the Eagles (9-6) on the brink of playoff elimination. Sebastian Rudy Jersey . Selected by the Titans in the 2007 NFL Draft, Johnson rejoined the club last season after a five-year stint with Indianapolis. http://www.soccerfcbayern.com/kids-sebastian-rudy-munich-jersey/ . Both the top-seeded Djokovic and sixth-seeded Fish took relatively easy paths, with the Serb winning when opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired in the second set with a sore arm and Fish dominating Janko Tipsarevic in two quick sets.Montreal, QC (SportsNetwork.com) - Tomas Plekanec scored twice and added two assists, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 6-4 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday at Bell Centre. David Desharnais chipped in a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who stopped a two-game home skid and won for only the second time in their last five overall. P.K. Subban, Dale Weise and Alex Galchenyuk also scored in the victory, while Andrei Markov picked up three assists. Montreal again played without All-Star goaltender Carey Price, who is considered day-to-day with an upper body injury he sustained Wednesday in a win against Columbus. Dustin Tokarski, starting his second straight game in place of Price, made 27 saves. John Tavares and Kyle Okposo each notched a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who were coming off Fridays 6-3 win over Pittsburgh and had a four-game win streak stopped. Okposo scored four goals against the Penguins. New York goaltender Jaroslav Halak stopped just 27 shots and was pulled late in the third period. The Canadiens went on the power play just 54 seconds into the game when Ryan Strome took a tripping penalty and cashed just over a minute later when Subban ripped a one-timer home from the left circle for his 10th goal. Montreal scored even earlier in the second period for a 2-0 lead, as Weise found the back of the net just 10 seconds after the opening faceoff. The Islanders killed off a Travis Hamonic hooking penalty midway through the second, then scored 21 seconds after the minor ended when Okposo snapped a shot home from the slot for his 14th goal. Montreal went back on the power play a few minutes laater and converted just six seconds into the advantage when Plekanec fired a shot from just above the right circle past a screened Halak for a 3-1 game. Manuel Neuer Jersey. The Islanders countered just over two minutes later when Nikolay Kulemin took a drop pass from Brock Nelson in the slot, skated into the right circle and slipped a shot off the far post into the net for his ninth goal. Montreal, though, again scored early in the third period. Brendan Gallaghers shot from the slot was blocked in front and went directly into the right circle for Galchenyuk, who flipped one through Halak at 52 seconds. Desharnais scored with 8:44 left, stealing the puck at center ice and beating Halak with a blast from the right circle, then Plekanec scored again just 2 1/2 minutes later on a 2-on-1 to make it 6-2. Halak went to the bench in favor of Chad Johnson and the Islanders clawed back with goals from Anders Lee and Tavares to make it close. Game Notes Tavares reached the 20-goal mark for the sixth straight season ... Montreal finished 2-for-4 on the power play ... The Islanders were 1-for-3 with the extra skater ... Montreal improved to 19-1-0 when leading after two periods ... The Canadiens have won both meetings with the Islanders this season, taking a 3-1 decision on Dec. 23 in Uniondale. The teams will square off once more on March 14 on Long Island ... The Islanders fell to 6-2-0 in the second of back-to-back games this season ... Montreal will play its final game before the All-Star break on Tuesday against Nashville ... The Islanders will also play just once more before the break, hosting Philadelphia on Monday. ' ' ' |
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