Sylvanfan
08-09-2004, 09:46 PM
Miami Herald[FONT=Optima][FONT=Times][SIZE=7]
The Florida Panthers made a series of moves over the past weekend as the club begins preperations for training camp which will begin in a month. The first and boldest move was the unconventional hiring of Legendary former NFL coach Don Shula as the teams head coach. GM Sylvanfan denied that hiring Shula was a mere publicity stunt despite the icons lack of hockey knowlege. "I know how to win and thats good enough" snapped Shula to the media. "There is no truth to the rumor that this is a publicity stunt, and the contract the Panthers signed with my steakhouse for pregame meals is nothing but co-incidence. It's also co-incidence that all Panthers players receive team bought memberships at Don Shula's golf and country club." Added the former NFL great. "Don knows how to win, and he's still the only man in pro sports to ever coach an undefeated team for an entire season. His presence alone will make the team better. We'll get him up to speed on hockey issues soon enough" remarked the Panthers GM. The Panthers issued a statement shortly after denying that they were in talks to hire Fran Tarkenton as offensive co-ordinator. In other moves the Panthers have also completed a couple of deals over the weekend.
The first deal saw the Panthers deal off longtime Panther Peter Schaefer and offensive defenceman Thomas Kaberle to the Washington Capitals for former Panther Ales Kotalik and towering defenceman Mike Rathje. "There were a couple of reasons we made this deal. The first is that it allowed us to save just over a million in cap space. The other reason is that we felt Kotalik has better long term potential than Schaefer does. Essentially recently aquired Brad May combined with Kotalik earn the same amount of money as did Schaefer. Kaberle was hard to trade, but we felt that Rathje is a suitable reaplacement, and makes us better defensively" reasoned GM Sylvanfan. The Panthers than used the cap savings to bring in veteran centreman Robert Reichel from the Penguins for promising young centre Dan Fritsche. "Reichel makes us better now and thats why we did the deal. We feel the addition of Reichel makes us pretty solid down the middle, and that up front we've got a pretty decent lineup now" claimed the Panthers GM. The Panthers now look to ice a lineup like
Hrdina Weight Kovalev
Rucinski Stumpel Donovan
May Reichel Kotalik
Nazarov Ponikarovski Laraque
Rathje Sydor
Kasparitis Eaton
Tallinder Marshall
Kiprusoff
Snow
Not a championship squad by any means, but this team should be able to do a lot better than the 38 points they mustered last season. Shula's presence alone should ensure them that many points as other teams will marvel at the living legend.
Krusty Mullet
Miami Herald
The Florida Panthers made a series of moves over the past weekend as the club begins preperations for training camp which will begin in a month. The first and boldest move was the unconventional hiring of Legendary former NFL coach Don Shula as the teams head coach. GM Sylvanfan denied that hiring Shula was a mere publicity stunt despite the icons lack of hockey knowlege. "I know how to win and thats good enough" snapped Shula to the media. "There is no truth to the rumor that this is a publicity stunt, and the contract the Panthers signed with my steakhouse for pregame meals is nothing but co-incidence. It's also co-incidence that all Panthers players receive team bought memberships at Don Shula's golf and country club." Added the former NFL great. "Don knows how to win, and he's still the only man in pro sports to ever coach an undefeated team for an entire season. His presence alone will make the team better. We'll get him up to speed on hockey issues soon enough" remarked the Panthers GM. The Panthers issued a statement shortly after denying that they were in talks to hire Fran Tarkenton as offensive co-ordinator. In other moves the Panthers have also completed a couple of deals over the weekend.
The first deal saw the Panthers deal off longtime Panther Peter Schaefer and offensive defenceman Thomas Kaberle to the Washington Capitals for former Panther Ales Kotalik and towering defenceman Mike Rathje. "There were a couple of reasons we made this deal. The first is that it allowed us to save just over a million in cap space. The other reason is that we felt Kotalik has better long term potential than Schaefer does. Essentially recently aquired Brad May combined with Kotalik earn the same amount of money as did Schaefer. Kaberle was hard to trade, but we felt that Rathje is a suitable reaplacement, and makes us better defensively" reasoned GM Sylvanfan. The Panthers than used the cap savings to bring in veteran centreman Robert Reichel from the Penguins for promising young centre Dan Fritsche. "Reichel makes us better now and thats why we did the deal. We feel the addition of Reichel makes us pretty solid down the middle, and that up front we've got a pretty decent lineup now" claimed the Panthers GM. The Panthers now look to ice a lineup like
Hrdina Weight Kovalev
Rucinski Stumpel Donovan
May Reichel Kotalik
Nazarov Ponikarovski Laraque
Rathje Sydor
Kasparitis Eaton
Tallinder Marshall
Kiprusoff
Snow
Not a championship squad by any means, but this team should be able to do a lot better than the 38 points they mustered last season. Shula's presence alone should ensure them that many points as other teams will marvel at the living legend.
Krusty Mullet
Miami Herald