Florida Panthers: Richard Zednik, who suffered gruesome neck in...

Richard Zednik will not play for the Florida Panthers or any other NHL team next season.

[HMMMM]

No big loss!!

[olli]

well at least the panthers didn't have to CUT him...

[YORMARKS OBSERVER]

Very smart man..
Like the rats deserting a ship..
Actually a ship of fools..

[Its all about the chops]

Zed, we will miss your courage and dedication.
Best of luck,

[Cheap Seats]

Panthers are going to lose everyone this off season. This is just the first of many

[Wait a Minute]

The Panthers have many holes to fill and only about $18 million to fill them. Zednik got $1.6 million last year and you have to wonder how much more he was offered to play in Russia. You also have to wonder why he didn't want to come back here - or to the NHL at all.

You can expect Repik to fill one of the 3 currently open forward slots, but no one else up at Rochester is ready to play in the NHL. And if they buy out McLean (which they should) they will need to fill yet more slot. After that, they still have at least 3 open defensive slots to fill, assuming they don't resign Bouwmeester or Skrastins, and take a pass on Cullimore and Boynton. Of course, they also have an open goalie slot to fill.

Mark my words,$18 million is going to dissappear really quickly.

[DK Schrute]

I don't think Repik will have too much problem getting in the neighborhood of Zednik's 17 goals.
Not sure how much he is geting in Russia but I'm sure it's more than he would have gotten on this side of the pond. He's getting up there in age so I'm assuming he wanted one more nice payday. Not a major loss by any means just a case of an older player moving on to a greener pay pasture. Let's not turn this into a Panthers management bashing thread. This time they actually don't deserve it. More pressing things this offseason to wrry about than the departure of a 3rd line talent.

[Ryan]

I agree with the beet farmer.

[DK Schrute]

Wait a Minute wrote:

The Panthers have many holes to fill and only about $18 million to fill them. Zednik got $1.6 million last year and you have to wonder how much more he was offered to play in Russia. You also have to wonder why he didn't want to come back here - or to the NHL at all.
You can expect Repik to fill one of the 3 currently open forward slots, but no one else up at Rochester is ready to play in the NHL. And if they buy out McLean (which they should) they will need to fill yet more slot. After that, they still have at least 3 open defensive slots to fill, assuming they don't resign Bouwmeester or Skrastins, and take a pass on Cullimore and Boynton. Of course, they also have an open goalie slot to fill.
Mark my words,$18 million is going to dissappear really quickly.

Not sure how accurate your $18 million figure is but you are pretty good with your info so I'll assume it's somewhere in that range although it seems to me that considering all the vets with expired contracts and the highly probable departure of Bouwmeester the Panthers should have plenty of money to spend. One thing you are definitely right about is that the Panthers do have quite a few holes on the roster to fill and that might not be such a bad thing. Even though the team improved in the standings looking back at most of the season (with the exception of Jan and Feb)they were still pretty mediorcre overall. I think they need to bring in at least one elite player and another really good one but have a couple of nice pieces here to build around. But for me as they stood at the end of the season the mix of vets and young guys still isn't right. So maybe shuffling the roster will help.

[Not Sure]

Zednik has the right idea; get as far away from this cancer of an organization as possible! It's got to say something that a guy would rather play in Siberia than play for the pussycats!

[YORMARKS OBSERVER]

Not Sure wrote:

Zednik has the right idea; get as far away from this cancer of an organization as possible! It's got to say something that a guy would rather play in Siberia than play for the pussycats!

You got it...

[Wait a Minute]

DK Schrute wrote:

<quoted text>
Not sure how accurate your $18 million figure is but you are pretty good with your info so I'll assume it's somewhere in that range although it seems to me that considering all the vets with expired contracts and the highly probable departure of Bouwmeester the Panthers should have plenty of money to spend......

Here's how I get to about $18 million. The current cap is $56.7 million. A good guess is that it won't change much next year. So I am using that amount for the coming season. Right now the Panthers are committed for $38 million based only on players signed for next season. That does not include RFA's Booth, Eminger and Stewart. It also obviously doesn't include any amounts for the UFA's who were on the roster this past season, which list includes Anderson, Bouwmeester, Boynton, Cullimore, Dvorak, Peltonen, Zednik and Skrastins.

So if the cap doesn't go up, the maximum amount they have is actually $18.7 million. But keep in mind that they really can't afford to spend to the maximum amount, as teams need to leave some margin to allow for injuries, minor league call-ups and trades. This year the Panthers spent about $2 million under the cap, which gave them some wiggle room if they needed it. So in truth, the Panthers probably can afford to spend a bit less than $18 million.

Now, of that $18 million, figure $4 million is going to Booth. Take away another $1-2 million to leave some margin for seasonal needs, and now they only have about $12 million. If (and it's a big IF) they sign Bouwmeester, all of a sudden they are down to just $5 million. If they don't sign him and pick up an elite forward in the $5-6 million range, they are down to about $6-7 million.

Like I said, that $18 million disappears fast!

[Wait a Minute]

DK Schrute wrote:

<quoted text>
Not sure how accurate your $18 million figure is but you are pretty good with your info....

Go to this web site and you will find cap info on every team. Just click on the desired logo at the top to see every team's roster and salary committments.

http://www.nhlscap.com/teamnumbers.htm

[Louie]

Zeddy should win the Masterton hands down. He came back strong this season after almost losing his life on the ice last season. He is one tough guy. I admire him and will miss him on the Panthers roster. I wish him all the best.

[Wait a Minute]

Louie wrote:

Zeddy should win the Masterton hands down. He came back strong this season after almost losing his life on the ice last season. He is one tough guy. I admire him and will miss him on the Panthers roster. I wish him all the best.

I agree. He deserves it. Other nominees came back from difficult stuff, but he came back and produced, having a fairly good season.

[Jack Tupp]

Louie wrote:

Zeddy should win the Masterton hands down. He came back strong this season after almost losing his life on the ice last season. He is one tough guy. I admire him and will miss him on the Panthers roster. I wish him all the best.

Louis,
Maybe he will send you one of his jockstraps for old time's sake. Used and unwashed, of course, so you can sniff to your heart's delight.

[The Other Side]

Good for him. One less thing JM has to ponder over while he's doing his "I'm a terrible GM" crossword puzzle. Zed deserves everything he can get because he almost lost everything he has. As far as signing this person and that person... we have to stop thinking about it. It's nice to dream but in reality who do we think is going to come and play here? I'll tell you one thing, I am looking forward to seeing Frolik, Booth and Repik up front on the power play. Anyone else?

[RED BARON]

Zednik is a smart man. Florida is a sinking ship run by a ship of fools. I'm sure he got more money and he's closer to his home in Slovakia. Good for him. If he wins the Masterson award Florida will finally have a piece of hardware to show after how many years???? LOL This team is soooo pathetic.

Already our roster for next season is coming apart like a cheap suit. They're even looking awful earlier than most offseasons. Because of all our crappy draft picks over the years we get to look forward to another season of "snipers" such as Repik, Steward and Glass tearing up the ice. LOL What a joke. The only thing we can hope for is to come dead last next season so we can get a 1st overall pick that Martin the moron can trade away for garbage or nothing. I'm so fed up with this crappy )a-s-s( franchise. Even veteran players that have respect around the league are embarassed to play here. They would rather go to Siberia, bang hot models and drink vodka and eat stale black bread with beet soup. LOL

[The Other Side]

Bye to Stewart, bye to Peltonen. I say keep Dvorak because of his speed, leadership and excellent penalty killing. Offer him something low. No one else will give him anything big. Boynton can go. Skratz can stay.

[The Other Side]

RED BARON wrote:

Zednik is a smart man. Florida is a sinking ship run by a ship of fools. I'm sure he got more money and he's closer to his home in Slovakia. Good for him. If he wins the Masterson award Florida will finally have a piece of hardware to show after how many years???? LOL This team is soooo pathetic.
Already our roster for next season is coming apart like a cheap suit. They're even looking awful earlier than most offseasons. Because of all our crappy draft picks over the years we get to look forward to another season of "snipers" such as Repik, Steward and Glass tearing up the ice. LOL What a joke. The only thing we can hope for is to come dead last next season so we can get a 1st overall pick that Martin the moron can trade away for garbage or nothing. I'm so fed up with this crappy )a-s-s( franchise. Even veteran players that have respect around the league are embarassed to play here. They would rather go to Siberia, bang hot models and drink
vodka and eat stale black bread with beet soup. LOL

Even for you that's kind of harsh. The team isn't good but they can be. Unfortunately it's easier to get rid of players rather than management or owners. We just haven't found the right A to B combination and the way JM and AC run this team we never will. But a few tweeks, ok alot of tweeks, and we could have something here. But dis-respecting the team the way you do also dis-respects the fans who support them. Because we are on that ship full of fools every time we walk into the arena.