Florida Panthers’ Morning Nips: 8/10/13
By Pat McGrath
Jan 19, 2013; Sunrise, FL, USA; Carolina Hurricanes center Jiri Tlusty (19) watches Florida Panthers center Tomas Fleischmann (14) right wing Scottie Upshall (center) and defenseman Brian Campbell (right) celebrate Upshall
The NHL hockey season is still seven plus weeks away and I think I am starting to experience the first symptoms of psychosis. Here is what I mean: Last night I dreamt that Brian Campbell and Ed Jovanovski were traded to the New Jersey Devils in a three team trade. All I know about the third team was that they were a west coast team and their involvement in the trade was insignificant at best, I think my brain just wanted to confuse me by throwing in the third team but regardless, this was a huge deal! In return for Campbell and Jovo, the Panthers got draft picks and lots of them, I’m talking like two first rounders a couple second rounders and one third, fourth fifth and sixth rounders thrown in for good measure. The worst part about this dream was that the trade happened yesterday, as in, I missed covering this huge story by a full day and was probably so far behind that I should not even bother covering the trade.
I woke up to the sun piercing through my window and as my mind began to rid itself of last nights indiscretions, I came to my senses, but not all the way. Although I was pretty positive that Brian Campbell and Ed Jovanovski were still Panthers I had to be sure so I rushed down to my computer and googled Florida Panthers…this is what I found. While the birth of a kitten to a rescued and released Florida Panther is compelling stuff (if you see any misspelled words, I am blaming my tear stained keyboard) it is not the big hockey Florida Panther story I dreamt about. This is just a long drawn out way of saying there is not much going on in terms of hockey related Florida Panther news, and this dry spell that we call August is just about driving me insane. On that note, here are some links to keep you going on this beautiful Saturday morning:
- (Panthers.NHL.com) The Panthers’ home site has a number of interesting reads including pieces on Nick Bjugstad and Jonathan Huberdeau.
- (Grantland.com) Does the NHL need to be fixed? You bet it does, but there are also some things we would never want to see change.
- There is a lot going on over at FanSided NHL, check out this Buffalo Sabres lament, or this look at some 2013 playoff teams that may struggle to qualify again in 2014.
- For some Panther coverage, The Rat Trick has been doing some player by player season previews. Our most recent previews have focused on Scottie Upshall and Tomas Fleischmann.