With several trades that have went down in the past couple days, New Pathers GM Matt Duborg is putting his own stamp on the team. I recently sat down with him for an interview.
"It's a process. When you're taking over the position I am, you have to evaluate the entire system of your organization and try to find a way to remain competitive at every level." he commented
Out from the Panthers team are forwards Patrice Bergeron and Chris Thorburn as well as Goaltender Manny Fernandez. In return they acquired scorer Chris Drury, tough guys Adam Burish and Scott Parker, as well as rugged D-man Ryan Parent. In addition to that, the Panthers have acquired 10 additional draft picks for next week's Entry draft.
"When going through the process, we saw that there were some areas on the Panthers that we were deficient. We had too many finesse type players, and we weren't an exceptionally hard team to play against. With the players we've acquired, we feel that we've added another dimension to our game."
It was then in the interview that I brought up a question that most Panther fans must be asking; what are you going to do about the goaltending situation?
"That's funny, and if I don't find a solution soon, I bet most of the fans will be wanting me tied to the posts." "Realistically though, we do have several excellent goalie prospects coming in the wings, and in 2 years or so, we won't have any problems whatsoever in net. What we need is a decent mentor that we can bring in to tide us over for the interum. Whether that's through free agency or trade has yet to be determined, but I plan on getting that addressed soon."
I then asked about his plans for the draft, now that he has 14 draft picks in next Saturday's entry draft.
"Well, that area came up when I was evaluating the system. I noticed that we had a lot of mediocre players on the farm and even to an extent on our pro team. What I'm going to be doing is trying to draft several forwards and several defenseman in order to have enough youth coming up at all levels, that all the Florida affiliates are equally feared as the Panthers will be."
It seems like he's a GM on a mission. As all Panthers fans can hope is that this mission will be a success.
Reporting for the Miami Sun Times - Roger Millions
(he must've got fired from sportsnet in the sim, someone had to give him a job
)
The retooling begins in the Sunshine State
