Labor Day weekend to many people coordinates with the ending of summer. Kids are getting back to school, routines that have been on hiatus are back on schedule, and the most gratifying meaning of the weekend means that football season is starting training camp is about to begin. YEAH!
Believe it or not we have survived a very long summer, and one that has been a bit on the boring side. So to put an end to the doldrums of the summer I thought it may be appropriate to enjoy your last holiday weekend before Thanksgiving with a little “Drinking Game” that you can play while you may be attending a BBQ, watching baseball, football, or just sitting around in your shorts and t-shirt counting the days till October.
Now I am not an advocate of getting yourself plastered by any means. Drink responsibly of course. And don’t get behind the wheel of a car if you’ve had too much to drink. I’m also not even advocating you drink alcohol. It could be whatever your favourite beverage is, although I imagine alcohol will be a bit more enjoyable. Anyway, here’s the deal.
Whenever any of the following situations occur, take a drink of your beverage:
* A rumor that the Ilya Kovalchuk deal has been approved by the NHL.
* A rumor that the Ilya Kovalchuk deal will be denied by the NHL.
* A rumor that the Ilya Kovalchuk deal will be denied and that he’s signing with a team in the KHL. You should be pretty well on your way to a drunken stupor by now.
* When someone “Tweets” or says, “Is it October Yet”?
* When you hear or read that there may be a lockout after the current CBA expires. (this requires consumption of the entire glass).
* When it’s reported that Roberto Luongo is the best goalie in the NHL.
* When it’s revealed that the Sedins are indeed sisters.
* When someone actually predicts that the Florida Panthers will make the playoffs. (once again, the whole glass for this one).
* When we hear that David Booth is healthy and ready for camp to begin.
* When the Florida Panthers reveal another season ticket package that you can’t pass up.
* When someone other than The Hockey News predicts that the Vancouver Canucks will win the Stanley Cup.
* When you hear the word “Party” attached to any reference about the Florida Panthers for this season.
* When someone mentions that Little Stevie is one of the top five centers in the Southeast Division. Division, not conference!
* When someone says the reason free agent Kyle Wellwood isn’t signed yet is because he’s fat.
* When someone says that they enjoy the shootout, and that it should stay a part of the game.
* When the rumor that the Montreal Canadiens, and head coach Uncle Jack are about to name a captain. The only requirement of the captain is that he must be taller than 5′-5″. This may pose a problem.
* Anytime you see an ad for the Florida Panthers with that dreaded third sweater. (This will require drinking the entire glass, and if this ultimately becomes the new home sweater, hook yourself up to an I.V.!)
As promised, here are the answers to the 10 questions for the Florida Panthers for 2010.
Thoughts and comments are most welcome!
1) Is David Booth fully recovered from his concussions from last season? If he is, and he says he is, how close is he to having his career end with another hit to the head?
While I have no idea of what it’s like to have recovered from one of these let alone two, I have to think that even if Booth’s healthy, he’s really one bad hit away from it being over. My concern will be his style of play. Will he still skate hard down the wing and work the corners, or will he stay on the perimeter and away from traffic? It would be nice to think that we can get 35 goals from him, but in all honesty if we get 20-25 and he stays healthy, those are number we should be thankful for. I hope he surprises all of us and returns to form. He deserves it.
2) Can Stephen Weiss improve on his numbers from last season when many in the organEYEzation felt he had a “breakout” year?
For me, I think he’s peaked. Last year may have been it. If he played with more fire in his belly, he might have scored 35 goals. He was on a bit of a tear last season, but once Horton got hurt, that was it. Now there’s no Horton. Wow, what the hell did I just imply? Anyway, I think we’ve seen the best of Stevie. And it’s not good enough.
3) Will Chris Higgins get his scoring touch back again, or like many players who come here already on a tailspin, will he continue to spiral downward?
Higgins is hoping to regain his touch of course, but can he. Dale Tallon feels that he may have been snake bitten. True I would say to a degree. However there’s a reason he was playing on the third and fourth line for the Rangers most of last season. It would be nice to see him get at least 20 goals, but unless he gets power play time and unless the cobwebs are out, we may be looking at 15. For the money, not bad. But we need more regardless.
4) What are the chances of Rostislav Olesz playing all 82 games this season? Hell, would we be happy with 65? What kind of production can we expect?
For the amount of money this bag of injuries is getting, playing all 82 games would at least mean that he survived. It’s not little injuries that he gets either, so maybe he needs to look at conditioning as well. His potential is that he’s been expected to be a major contributor which is why Uncle Jack gave him the fat contract that we’re stuck with. JM, when you left you should have taken this bust with you.
5) The tenure of head coach Peter DeBoer has to be a situation that will be closely watched. If the Panthers get off to another slow start, how long before he’s replaced?
Last season took a toll on Pete. You could see it in his face many nights behind the bench. His tactics are not only questionable at times, but make me wonder if he’s really NHL coach material. His magic worked in juniors, but we’re talking NHL now, and I’m thinking his message is going in one ear and out the other. Although, what does that say about the players? Anyway, if we’re at 25 games and we have less than 22 points, he’s a goner. The leash on my German Shepard was short because he was a tiger in disguise, and I didn’t want him eating people we passed by. The leash on DeBoer is short because he’s not followed through on his threats, and his style is, well, junior. That needs to change.
6) Does first round draft pick Erik Gudbranson make the team coming out of training camp? Or will he be better served by staying in the minors one more season?
This is probably too early to tell. I would think that he can beat out guys like Keaton Ellerby and Patch Adams, but there’s definitely no need to rush him. If he’s the real thing and shows in camp that he can handle it, then I’m all for him staying here. But the fact of the matter is, this kid’s a winner. To be surrounded by a team that struggles to win and has losing attitude won’t help. I’m rooting for him to make it though!
7) Tomas Vokoun. While he’s not likely to be signed to a contract extension, will the Panthers give him away, let him complete the season and lose him for nothing, or actually make a meaningful trade?
The window for a blockbuster deal has most likely passed by. If, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if for some odd reason the Panthers are sniffing a playoff spot, Vokoun isn’t going anywhere. I like Tomas, and I honestly wish him well and want him to succeed. He deserves to be on a winner. I would just hate to have him walk away for nothing, or a couple third round picks. There’s no reason that I can think of that he’d resign for a hometown discount.
How many games will Andrew Peters play, and what are the chances that he averages more than 2 minutes and 14 seconds per game?
Deboer and Uncle Jack both seem to dislike players like this. Nick Tarnasky at least had a touch of ability and wasn’t a total disaster on the ice. My guess is Peters will see very limited action if any, and spend alot of time doing the Rochester shuffle.
9) What’s the infatuation with Little Stevie? He’s just a number two center, shoved in the number one spot. I dare anyone who reads this to analyze his play over a ten game period. I promise you that you won’t be as impressed as the organEYEzation wants you to be. So what gives?
Drafted fourth overall in 2001. Yea, nine years ago, and some are still waiting for him to break out. Forget it. The comparisons to Steve Yzerman are unfounded and way off. At best he’s a second line center, and that would be on an average team. There is no way he’s a number one on any team that made the playoffs last season. He lacks a number of things including height, snarl and body checks. He’d rather avoid them. I wish we could avoid him.
10) A simple yes, or no on this. Will the Florida Panthers make the playoffs this year? When they don’t, will confetti be spread throughout the arena?
No.
As for the confetti, god help us if that fiasco is repeated. I still have that pit in my stomach from last season when I saw that happening. But with Party City as one of the sponsor’s, anything is possible.
Nine seasons since the last time the Florida Panthers played in a playoff game. 10 years if you count the lockout. This year when they don’t make the playoffs will mark the tenth consecutive year in which the post season will include golf and tennis rather than more hockey. However with new general manager Dale Tallon at the helm, things will improve. As I’ve said all summer, it’s just going to take time.
Here though are 10 questions to ponder about this coming season for the Florida Panthers. The answers will appear in the next post.
1) Is David Booth fully recovered from his concussions from last season? If he is, and he says he is, how close is he to having his career end with another hit to the head?
2) Can Stephen Weiss improve on his numbers from last season when many in the organEYEzation felt he had a “breakout” year?
3) Will Chris Higgins get his scoring touch back again, or like many players who come here already on a tailspin, will he continue to spiral downward?
4) What are the chances of Rostislav Olesz playing all 82 games this season? Hell, would we be happy with 65? What kind of production can we expect?
5) The tenure of head coach Peter DeBoer has to be a situation that will be closely watched. If the Panthers get off to another slow start, how long before he’s replaced?
6) Does first round draft pick Erik Gudbranson make the team coming out of training camp? Or will he be better served by staying in the minors one more season?
7) Tomas Vokoun. While he’s not likely to be signed to a contract extension, will the Panthers give him away, let him complete the season and lose him for nothing, or actually make a meaningful trade?
How many games will Andrew Peters play, and what are the chances that he averages more than 2 minutes and 14 seconds per game?
9) What’s the infatuation with Little Stevie? He’s just a number two center, shoved in the number one spot. I dare anyone who reads this to analyze his play over a ten game period. I promise you that you won’t be as impressed as the organEYEzation wants you to be. So what gives?
10) A simple yes, or no on this. Will the Florida Panthers make the playoffs this year? When they don’t, will confetti be spread throughout the arena?
The answers to these questions will be coming in my next post. Why? So you come back. This way I get double the traffic!
Not to be sacrilegious or anything like that , but when I came home from work Monday evening (in my sleekly delicious new car car), I opened the mailbox to see what had arrived. Anticipation for someone my age is kinda like having the “little boy” still inside of us that we never out grow. Thankfully! As I reached inside to pull out the assortment of junk, bills and Chinese take out menu’s, a very wide smile came across my face. It’s here! A simple fist pump may have been seen by any neighbor that was watching. Everyone has a Mrs. Kravitz on their street right? I think I may be showing my age there, but Mrs. Kravitz was the nosey neighbor on “Bewitched”.
The Hockey News had finally showed up! The Bible as I call it. It was nice, fresh and glossy. I had been a bit worried that our mailman might have been reading it over the past few days since there aren’t many hockey fans in our neighborhood, and I was most likely the only one with a Hockey News subscription.
I later skimmed through it as I usually do when it first arrives, looking over the many sections and stories that I’d enjoy reading over the next few days and months. Stats. Love stats, especially the minor league ones. Also, looking at the predictions, the top 50 players, potential lines for the teams, and of course the prediction of the Stanley Cup Winner for the 2010-2011 season.
I was also pleased to see Captain Serious (or Marvel) Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks on the cover. Well deserved and a much better photo to look at all season long, as last season’s issue with Cindy Crosby on the cover consisently layed faced down! A few things were a bit surprising, and a few things made me say, yea, I can see that. However the one thing that made me think that this issue was made while the writers and editors where in a drunken stupor, was the prediction of the Stanley Cup winner.
Last season, the Hockey news predicted that the Philadelphia Flyers would win the Cup. Not a bad choice I had said at the time. The recent acquisition of Chris Pronger to bolster the defence and add some additional toughness made sense. The only question mark I felt that that Flyer team had was in goal. Which ultimately came to prove true, although Michael Leighton did have himself a nice run, let’s face it, if he were the starter from the beginning of the season, I don’t think they would have been in the Finals.
Anyway, that takes us to this years prediction. I still can’t see it, and I still find it hard to believe, but the Hockey News has chosen the Vancouver Canucks as this season’s Stanley Cup winner. HUH? WHAT? REALLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Why do I feel that way? There is one reason that will prevent the Vancouver Canucks from winning the Cup this year. It’s the same reason that has haunted the Flyers for years, and could haunt Vancouver as well. Yes, there are some issues that they might be able to overcome, but the most glaring and obvious one is goaltending. Roberto SoLongo. Bobby Lose. Roberta, Mr. Seven. Etc. etc. Solongo and his 10 million dollar contract and the captaincy or non-captaincy drama, amongst his inability to win the “Big One” will keep the Canucks from being victorious.
Canuck fans may feel that Luongo is the chosen one, however I feel he is the “overrated one”. Never before have I seen an athlete so drastically shoved down our throats as “The Man”. He hasn’t won anything. He’s had three chances in the playoffs, and each time has come up short, twice by giving up seven goals in a game, and once for taking his eye off the play. As an ex-Panther, it’s not that I don’t wish him well. He was good while he was here, but he played with average to below average defenses in front of him. In Vancouver he’s had better units, and still can’t get it done. And trust me, the only reason he has a gold medal is because of the all-star team that played in front of him. Canada won inspite of him, not because of him.
As you can tell, I’ve been a bit quiet this past weekend. While I was able to post a nice report on young goalie prospect Jacob Markstrom of the Florida Panthers, I was a bit involved with some car shopping the past few days for myself. And a neighbor as well over the past couple weekends. As the image shows, my feeling is that the whole buying/leasing a car bit has changed dramatically over the past few years. Or at least since I was in my 20’s, which was a long time ago.
Although, there still are some dealers that you can go to and you’ll still have to deal with the plaid suit image, and the old sales tactics. For example while doing this with a neighbor a couple weeks ago, which only warmed me up for my personal experience, we went to one dealer who’s name shall be withheld, but just know that the car is manufactured in Japan. The salesman was nice enough, but thought he was kind of cute with his little remarks. His most memorable one was. “Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets”. Ah, Lola was not the name of my friend, or anyone in our little gathering. Needless to say, we left. Next we went to a little place where the cars are made in South Korea. Nice enough guys and well spoken and knowledgeable. Things seemed to be going well, until, the sentence we we’re waiting for came out. “What can I do do put you in the car today”? Nothing. We said we weren’t buying today at the beginning.
A week later we strolled into a well known dealer and met the “gum chewer”. And he drags his feet on top of it. At one point he had his gum hanging from his lip. Very professional right? Well, the exact car that my neighbor wanted was not at the dealer, but in transit. Mr Gum Chewer made an incredible offer that was good for today only. Why was the offer so good? The car wasn’t at the dealer and he knew we weren’t buying today. His mistake however turned into our good fortune. The next dealer matched the price for my neighbor just a few hours later as he didn’t want to lose the sale. He’d rather sell the car, and hope that we refer more business. Good man.
As for me, I’ve been leasing from the same guy for quite sometime. Boring? Maybe. But not the car(s) that’s for sure. I’m enamored with German engineering. They know how to make cars. No problems ever. And the experience is actually fun. We get along great, I’ve brought him other business, and nine times out of ten, if I take you to go see him, you’re most likely going home with car that day. Not cause he sold you, but because you like the car, you like him, and you’ll love the price. No haggling. No calling in the manager. Never have I heard, what do I have to do to make this deal today! You’ll be treated like a human, and actually think the whole experience was a dream. Believe me!
So, that’s what’s kind of tied me up for the past couple days. As the high school junior of the house says, “This car smells delicious”. As my business partner says, “It’s sleek”. So I now have a sleekly delicious new car. What does this have to do with hockey, or negotiating with free agents? Nothing. Just another day or two in the life of The Rat Trick.
The future in goal for the Florida Panthers seems to be extremely bright. Jacob Markstrom drafted in the second round (31st overall) in the 2008 NHL entry draft has the skill, work ethic and attitude to be “The One”. Standing at 6′-3″, he appears to be much taller, and with the equipment that goalies load themselves up on, will surely take up a large portion of the net. That’s bad news for the opposition trying to score goals.
Markstrom who is in Florida training and preparing for the upcoming season where he’ll likely start out in Rochester, is very anxious to make a name for himself and get a spot on the big club. The Miami Herald’s George Richards caught up with Jacob the other day and you can get the details of George’s story here at his blog On Frozen Pond.
As you read the story you’ll see that Markstrom is well spoken, eager to perform and show that he is the real thing. He wants to be Florida Panther, something that isn’t said very much around these parts lately. The one or two remarks that I like that George makes are that Jacob has an air of confidence surrounding him. Also, the kid is good and he knows it. This is fantastic and the Florida Panthers will certainly need the injection of confidence that this youngster provides when the time is right. That time could be coming faster than we think.
While Markstrom knows that he’ll most likely begin the season with Rochester, unless a trade is made, he wants to compete, win games and get even better than he already is. He knows that playing and winning games is significantly better than sitting on the bench and watching. Fine with me. His skill level will make it easier for the Panthers to move current starter Tomas Vokoun, which will most likey happen by the trade deadline in 2011. Markstrom’s stats are solid, and he is one of the top prospects of all 30 NHL teams.
Building from the net out is what Dale Tallon is expected to do. Markstrom who was drafted during the JM regime makes that easier, and with the young defencemen in the wings, it’s very possible that the Florida backline will be one of the very best. Ok, at least top 5. You get what I’m saying. There’s a ton of potential there, and if groomed correctly and not rushed, things will start to change for this organization.
All I ask is that they don’t find a way to screw it up!
Here’s a video of Markstrom for you to get a glimpse of what’s to come:
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