Stop Lying To Me!

Sorry youngsters, but this may not be a G rated post so watchout.

I’m tired of it.  I’m sick of it and I quite frankly have had enough of it.  What is it?

Lies.  Every year there are lies.  Lots of them.

The excitement of the Florida Panthers season has been squashed for me, and it makes me so frickin’ angry I want to hit somebody or something.  I feel as though the entire fan base has been hit in the groin.

How much more of this crap are we supposed to put up with?  Every year we are told about the direction that we are headed.  Be patient, things will work out.  We have the pieces, we have the players, we have the coach.  Now we have the GM.  We have the right people in place to make this thing work. We’re a sleeping giant.  Yea, we’re f$%kin’ sleeping alright.

And then, as what always happens, happens.  The lies.  Yes, it might be a touch harsh, but after all the years that I  have been a fan of this now laughing stock team, they prove once again that they can f$%k up a one car funeral.

The Erik Gudbranson situation was mishandled like a bad handoff between a quarterback and his running back.  This has “could come back to bite us” written all over it.  Was the front office not paying attention to the details and the situation at hand.  Let me spell some of it out for you:

* Erik Gudbranson drafted third overall in this summer’s draft is told that if you play well enough that he will be given every opportunity to earn a spot on the team.

* The player declares that he wants to play here, and will do everything he can to earn a job.  Something that we aren’t used to hearing is players saying “I want to be here”.

* He stands up for a “Brother” and gets into a fight and almost fractures his face, gets a nice gash for his troubles, while the veterans are watching in awe.

* The head coach of the team declares that he has earned a spot on the roster and basically gives his approval that the player should be given at least a nine game tryout.

* At the Town Hall meeting, fans are told that everything will be done to sign this player.  He deserves the chance to be  here.

*  The public basically now knows that at least a nine game trial is on the horizon.

* The organ-eye-zation  basically steps on their penis and doesn’t sign him.

WHAT A  MESS!

Bad enough we’ve sent a player back to juniors who has basically nothing to prove there, and could actually regress.  What is Erik going to learn by playing with 16 and 17 year olds?  What boggles my mind is that this player really wanted to be here, and did everything he could to at least earn the shot.  In the past we’ve had players who didn’t know if they wanted to stay, or couldn’t make up their mind if they wanted to stay, and we hung on to them so long that the value we got in return was equal to a 24 pack of Molson Canadien.  We ultimately couldn’t convince them to stay.

My concern is Big G, who has two years to agree to a contract gets pissed off and doesn’t sign and goes back into the draft.  Oh what a kick in the ass that would be right?  It’s all about money, most of it bonus money that couldn’t be decided on.  If you’re curious as to what the numbers work out to, check out nhlscap.com.  To save you time for doing the math, the maximum that a player could earn if he hits all the bonuses is $3.75 million.  This includes salary.

Cheap.

Stupid.

Unbelieveable.

To pour salt on the open wound, we put Michael Grabner on waivers because he didn’t make the team and the New York Islanders pick him up.  Now you know what’s going to happen don’t you?  Playing with John Tavares, Matt Moulson and Kyle Okposo, Grabner will score 25 goals.  Did it ever occur to management that goal scorers we acquire don’t score cause we have no f$%kin’ playmaking centers? Hey, Brendan Morrison a veteran center signed in Calgary for $750,000.

We signed Andrew Peters who’s a slug on skates to a $500,000 deal to be a part time enforcer.  We trade him Wednesday to Vancouver for former Panther Darcy Hordichuk who makes $800,000.  Darcy has been here, we’ve done that.  EXACTLY WHAT DALE TALLON SAID ABOUT WHY WE DIDN’T ACQUIRE OLLI JOKINEN!

Also, Keaton Ellerby a former first round pick in 2007, still, yea, still can’t make the team.  How does Scott Luce have a job still?  Me and my partner Dave Lasseter could probably do a better job at scouting.

So, let me guess, come trade deadline time when we’re 30 points out of a playoff spot, we’ll hang on to Tomas Vokoun, Bryan McCabe, Cory Stillman and Steve Reinprecht right?

Sorry fans, I’m tired of this.  I work hard for my money and am wondering why I keep spending it on this boring, losing team with no superstar and no future player that we can latch on to.  The worst part as I said yesterday was trying to explain to my daughter what’s going on.  I have no answers that make any sense to me.

If any of you have ideas, I’m all ears.  I’ll listen.  But don’t lie to me.  I’m done with that.

Thanks for reading.

Your comments are always welcomed and appreciated.

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