For the second consecutive year about 40 years of frustration will end for one team while the other will still be shaking their heads. The Vancouver Canucks meet the Boston Bruins in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals which is sure to pit the Canucks’ high-powered offense against Boston’s shutdown defense.
Vancouver entered the league in 1970 as an expansion team. Fate has not been kind to the Canucks whose history includes 15 years of consecutive losing seasons (1976-77 to 1990-91) but all the painful memories can be erased if this years version of the team can bring home the cup. Unlike their two previous trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, this year’s Canucks are the favorites to win it all. Both in 1982 and 1994, Vancouver made Cinderella runs to the finals only to lose both times to the two New York based teams. After an impressive run through the Campbell Conference in 1982, the Canucks hit the juggernaut known as the New York Islanders who swept Vancouver in four straight games to claim their third of four consecutive championships. After surviving a 3-1 first round deficit against the Calgary Flames in 1994, which saw Games 5, 6, and 7 all end in overtime, the Canucks marched to the finals for a date with the heavily-favored New York Rangers. Though the Rangers took a 3-1 series lead that year, Vancouver forced a Game 7 only to fall short as the Rangers were able win the cup for the first time in 54 years.
Once again Vancouver will have to travel the length of North America if they are to capture hockey’s Holy Grail. The only thing standing in their way is a hungry Boston Bruins team who fought their way through the Eastern Conference to earn their first trip to the finals since being disposed of by the Edmonton Oilers in 1990. Since the NHL’s first season of “modern” expansion (1967-68), Boston has only missed the postseason five times. But the Bruins have only won the Stanley Cup twice (1970, 1972) in that time period having lost in the finals in their previous five appearances.
All signs pointed to the Bruins winning their third cup in five years in 1974. The Bruins, who have won the cup five times (1929, 1939, 1941, 1970, 1972), fell to the upstart Philadelphia Flyers in six games that year. But Boston fought back to consecutive trips to the finals in 1977 and 1978 only to be derailed both times by another Montreal Canadiens dynasty. Montreal swept Boston in 1977 behind the strong play of Conn Smythe winner Guy Lafleur. The Bruins looked to be on a similar path the following year when Montreal took Games 1 and 2 at home. However, Boston tied the series only to lose it in six. Try as they might, Boston did not compete for the Stanley Cup until 10 years later when Wayne Gretzky in his final games with the Edmonton Oilers led his team to a sweep. Though Gretzky-less in 1990, Edmonton still managed to sweep Boston to solidify the Oilers place as one of the NHL’s great dynasties.
But that can all change this year. Vancouver enters the finals as the favorite for the first time while Boston, despite putting up 103 points and winning the Northeast Division has flown under the radar all season long. Either way, both teams have seized the opportunity and are looking to hoist the cup and put their fanbases’s misery to rest once and for all.
Cam Neely Connection
There is not much history on the ice between these two franchises but one trade between the two organizations left a sour taste in one teams’ mouth while the other reaped the benefits. After leading the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Portland Winterhawks to the Memorial Cup in 1983, Vancouver opted for Vancouver Island native Cam Neely with the ninth overall selection in that years’ draft. In three seasons with the Canucks which spanned 201 games, Neely managed 104 points (51 goals, 53 assists) but Vancouver felt that Barry Pederson was the way to go. Pederson had put up two 100-point seasons with the Bruins, twice scoring over 40 goals but a shoulder injury made him expendable.
Vancouver took a chance on Pederson sending Neely and the third overall selection in the 1987 draft to get him. But the gamble for Pederson never paid off for the Canucks. He did score over 70 points in his first two seasons with the Canucks but only managed 197 points (60 goals, 137 assists) in only 3-1/2 years in Vancouver before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1989. Neely took off with his Hall of Fame career upon becoming a member of the Bruins. In 10 years in Boston, Neely scored 590 points including 344 goals. Neely added another 55 tallies in 86 playoff games which saw Boston make two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals. Neely managed to hit the 50-goal plateau three times including 1993-94 after missing the better part of two seasons with an elbow injury that eventually ended his career. But Neely isn’t the only benefit the Bruins got from the trade. They selected Glen Wesley who manned the Boston blue line for his first seven seasons. Wesley, who played 21 seasons in total, is the only one of the three to win the Stanley Cup when he accomplished the feat as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
There’s no place like home
Even if that means playing against your home town team. Mark Recchi began his hockey career in the suburbs of Vancouver with the WHL’s New Westminster Bruins in 1985. Now with his seventh team, the 43-year-old is looking to add a third Stanley Cup to his resume after accomplishing the feat with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. A native of Kamloops, B.C., Recchi is looking to end his illustrious 22-year career by defeating the team of his home Province.
And Recchi is not alone. Boston’s Milan Lucic grew up in Vancouver. Like Recchi, Lucic started his junior career in the Vancouver suburbs with the Coquitlam Express of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) in 2004. Lucic moved to the WHL in 2005 where he played two seasons with the Vancouver Giants, winning the Memorial Cup in 2007.
Vancouver defenseman Dan Hamhuis is the only player in the finals from his home state or province to be playing for his “home” team. Hamhuis, a native of the northern British Columbia town of Smithers, signed with the Canucks after six seasons with the Nashville Predators. Teammate Cory Schneider, the Canucks backup goaltender, grew up 30 minutes northeast of Boston in Marblehead, Massachusetts. The former Boston College star is the only Massachusetts born player in the 2011 finals.
They’ve won before
Other than Recchi, who was previously mentioned as a two-time Stanley Cup winner, the only two other players to win it are Boston’s Shawn Thornton who captured it with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and Vancouver’s Mikael Samuelsson who won it with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008. Still, both teams boast players who have won hockey championships before. Vancouver’s Maxim Lapierre captured the Calder Cup with the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Hamilton Bulldogs in 2007. Boston’s Dennis Seidenberg won it with the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2005. Seidenberg also won a championship in Germany with the Manheim Eagles of the DEL in 2001. And he is not the only German champion in this years’ finals. Vancouver’s Christian Ehrhoff won a championship with the Krefeld Penguins in 2003.
Players have also won championships in junior hockey. Boston’s Andrew Ference won the Memorial Cup with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks in 1998 while Milan Lucic captured it with Vancouver (WHL) in 2007. Vancouver’s Jeff Tambellini won the Fred Page Cup in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) with the Chilliwack Chiefs in 2002 while teammate Mason Raymond won a championship in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) with the Camrose Kodiaks in 2005. Vancouver’s Keith Ballard won the Clark Cup in the United States Hockey League (USHL) in 2001 with the Omaha Lancers. He followed that up with two consecutive NCAA national championships with the University of Minnesota in 2002 and 2003.
So close, yet so far
No player on either team has been tempted with a championship but ultimately denied it than Vancouver’s Raffi Torres. In 2002 Torres made it to the Calder Cup Finals with the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers who were defeated in five games by the Chicago Wolves. Torres suited up for the Hamilton Bulldogs the following year hoping to gain redemption but the 2003 AHL title went to the Houston Aeros in seven games. Torres also played for the Edmonton Oilers in 2006 when they fell in seven games to Carolina in Torres’s only previous trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Go to college
This year’s finals feature 11 players who played in the NCAA for at least one season. Nine players are on Vancouver’s roster including Ryan Kesler whose freshman (and only) year at Ohio State University saw the Buckeyes capture a national championship in football. Kesler was a classmate with running back Maurice Clarett who was destined for greatness before winding up in jail. If someone told an Ohio State fan that a freshman in 2002 was going to play for a pro championship in nine years people would have said Clarett over Kesler.
Of the players in the finals that played collegiately, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) lead the way with four players each, though Vermont (college team of Boston goalie Tim Thomas) now competes in Hockey East. By comparison, major juniors in Canada produced 21 players in this years’ final. This includes nine apiece from both the OHL and WHL and three players from the QMJHL.
The top (amateur) talent is in Vancouver
Out of all the players competing in the finals this year, 14 were taken in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft with 12 of them playing for Vancouver. However the Canucks only drafted five of these players (Daniel Sedin: 2nd, 1999; Henrik Sedin: 3rd: 1999; Ryan Kesler: 23rd 2003; Cory Schneider: 26th, 2004 and Cody Hodgson: 10th, 2008). The only two players on the Bruins roster drafted in the first round are rookie sensation Tyler Seguin (2nd, 2010) and Daniel Paille who was drafted 20th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2002. Vancouver’s Keith Ballard was drafted by Buffalo with the 11th overall pick the same year the Sabres selected Paille. The only other team not in the finals who drafted two players in the first round are the New York Islanders who drafted Roberto Luongo 4th overall in 1997 and Raffi Torres 5th overall in 2000.
The draft is not for everyone
Each team has one player on their roster who went undrafted and began their professional career in the ECHL. Vancouver’s Alex Burrows played two seasons in the ECHL for the Greenville Grrrowl, Baton Rouge Kingfish and the Columbia Inferno before landing a full-time position in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose. Boston’s Rich Peverley played his first professional season with the South Carolina Stingrays in 2004-05. Peverley began the 2005-06 season with the Reading Royals before finding a full-time roster spot in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals. The average pick number playing in this year’s final is 84 which would be a late third-round selection.
Showing posts with label Greg Maker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greg Maker. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Where did it all go wrong: A look at the history of the Florida Panthers
By Greg MakerIt seems like yesterday that the Florida Panthers entered the National Hockey League (NHL). The bright red jerseys with palm trees on the sleeves gave the team a unique look. Playing home games in Miami doesn’t exactly have the same feel as a harsh February in Edmonton, but the novelty of ice hockey was once embraced by southern Floridians in their heyday, though that heyday lasted only two seasons.
It’s funny to think that the Florida Panthers were the most successful expansion team since the Edmonton Oilers made the playoffs in 1980. The 1993-94 version of the team wound up with 14 more points than those Oilers but did not benefit from playing in a time where just about every team qualified to compete for the Stanley Cup. They missed the playoffs by a single point that year. In the lockout shortened 1994-95 season, Florida narrowly missed the playoffs as the defending champion New York Rangers held them off by only one point again.
Finally in 1996 they broke through winning three playoff rounds (their only postseason series victories in franchise history) and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals where they were simply overmatched by a rising Colorado Avalanche team that was in the midst of setting a record for consecutive division titles won. That year, the Panthers handled Boston before disposing of the top-seeded Philadelphia Flyers in six games. Since the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals, where they edged the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games, Florida has won exactly ONE playoff game. In 1997, the Panthers served as the foil for Wayne Gretzky’s final curtain in the NHL playoffs. After Vanbiesbrouk shut out his former mates for a Game 1 victory, the Rangers fought back by winning the next two games. This was the last time the Panthers led in a playoff series. Up 1-0 in the second period of Game 4, Gretzky set the stage for his final bow with three goals in 6:23 sending Madison Square Garden into an absolute frenzy. The Rangers prevailed in five games. After two subpar seasons, the Panthers were back in the playoffs but were ousted in a four game sweep by the eventual champions from New Jersey. The Panthers are yet to return to the playoffs since the Devils used them as the first stepping stone to the franchise’s second Stanley Cup.
So how did this happen? From John Vanbiesbrouk in the early years of the franchise to Sean Burke to aging Conn Smythe winning goaltender Mike Vernon to Roberto Luongo and even now Tomas Vokoun, the Panthers have always been solid in net. That’s never been the problem. From Robert Svehla and Ed Jovanovski to Jay Bouwmeester, the Panthers have boasted some of the league’s top blue liners but the depth on D has never been solved. Making matters worse, the Panthers have had only two legitimate offensive threats in their 17-year history: Pavel Bure and Olli Jokinen. Bure, acquired in a trade that sent a package including Jovanovski to Vancouver, had two remarkable seasons in Florida. In 1999-00 and 2000-01, the “Russian Rocket” scored 58 and 59 goals respectively, winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal scorer both years. Quite an impressive feat. Bure, played in 56 games in 2001-02 before being dealt to the Rangers but still led the team in scoring at season’s end. In the playoff season of 1999-2000, Bure had secondary scoring help from Ray Whitney and Viktor Kozlov who each hit the 70 point mark. However, Bure was counted on too much the following season (2000-01). Though he scored one more goal than he did the previous season, Bure and the Panthers went from winning 43 games to a meager 22. The problem? Simple, Bure had to score or the team would lose. At season’s end he had amassed 30 percent of Florida’s goals. Remarkably, Bure led the team in assists as well though his total of 33 showed that the Panthers did not have a true assist man that season. Consider Kozlov who finished second on the team in scoring had only 14 goals and 25 assists.
With Bure gone, eventually retiring prematurely in 2003 due to injuries, it was time for Olli Jokinen to lead the Panthers attack. The Panthers finished the two years prior to the lockout with subpar teams but emerged as a surprising team post-lockout. With Jokinen now free to play his game with the new rules in place, he managed three straight seasons (2005-08) with goal totals of 38, 39 and 34. However, just like Bure, Jokinen had no secondary scoring. Despite top pick from 2003 Nathan Horton, Jokinen found himself carrying the majority of the workload scoring 16 percent of the team’s goals in those three seasons. Horton played admirably but didn’t even come close to threatening Jokinen for the team lead. The Panthers only missed the 2006-07 playoffs by four points, though four other teams had higher point totals than them and also missed the playoffs. Florida came oh so very close to that elusive playoff berth in 2008-09 but a tiebreaker was given to Montreal due to head to head matchup results. How heartbreaking was it? Both Florida and Montreal finished the season at 41-30-11. Florida had a better goal differential (which would have been the third tiebreaker) by exactly one goal but the eighth seed went to the Habs. Will this team ever make the playoffs again? All probability points to yes but reality seems to point to no.
Usually when an expansion team enters the NHL, they struggle for a few years while developing their young talent. When the young talent is ready, you add a few free agents and you have yourself a playoff team. This happened in both San Jose and Ottawa, who entered the league in 1991 and 1992, respectively after both teams set the record for most losses in a row in NHL history. For the Panthers, the exact OPPOSITE happened! They had a great expansion draft getting Vanbiesbrouk and veteran forwards Scott Mellanby and Brian Skrudland, the latter of whom won the cup with Montreal in 1986. Add rookie Rob Niedermayer and defenseman Ed Jovanovski from the draft and forward Johan Garpenlov, Stu Barnes and Ray Sheppard from outside the organization and the formula is proven to be a winner. And it was for two years but starting in 1997-98 mediocrity began when Florida failed to win 25 games. The following season Jovanovski went to Vancouver as part of the Pavel Bure deal where he played for seven seasons followed by another five in Phoenix. Niedermayer stayed for eight years but his production dropped mightily before he was traded to Calgary for the “Russian Rocket’s” brother Valeri Bure in 2002. Niedermayer would go on to have success in Anaheim where he won the Stanly Cup in 2007 and played in the finals in 2003. Ironically, Anaheim was the other team to enter the league in 1993 alongside Florida.
In the time since their final playoff appearance in 2000, the Panthers have not retained a core of players for any significant length of time. Jokinen became the face of the franchise in his seven year stint with the organization. Florida tried the European route to establish a core of players around him but by the lockout in 2005, most of those players had departed and never really got to establish themselves in Florida. Along with Pavel Bure and Kozlov, both Russians acquired in separate trades, the Panthers added Swedes Marcus Nilson, their first round pick in 1996 (20th overall), and Kristian Huselius, a second rounder (47th overall) in 1997. Also in the mix was third round selection (70th, 1999) Niklas Hagman. The Panthers gave up on Hagman in 2005-06 when he was traded to Dallas for a seventh round draft pick but since the trade, Hagman has had three 20-goal seasons in the league. Bure, as mentioned before, was shipped to the New York Rangers in 2002 while Nilson was sent to Calgary for a second round selection. Though Nilson never flourished in Calgary, eventually going back to his native Sweden to play, he helped the Flames get to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals where he recorded 4 goals and seven assists in their miraculous playoff run in 2004. Huselius hit the 20-goal mark twice in his first two NHL seasons but in his third season he only lit the lamp 10 times. Florida gave up on him after 24 games into the 2005-06 season sending him to join Nilson in Calgary. In return, the team received Steve Montador who played 2-1/2 seasons with Florida before bolting the organization for Anaheim in 2008. Huselius became a star in Calgary with a 34 goal, 77 point performance in 2006-07. Since the trade, Huselius has never scored less than 20 goals in a season with both the Flames and Columbus. It’s just another case of the organization panicking too quickly after one bad season. In goal, the deal that sent Roberto Luongo and Lukas Krajicek to Vancouver has not paid the dividends they were hoping for. The Panthers got controversial forward Todd Bertuzzi who only played seven games with the team in an injury plagued season that saw him traded to Detroit before it ended. Alex Auld, originally drafted in 1999 (Rd. 2, #40) came back to the organization to back up an aging Ed Belfour for one year. Defenseman Bryan Allen, Vancouver’s first round selection (4th) overall in 1998, turned out to be the best player in the deal. Allen has turned into a steady blueliner in Florida since the trade.
The Panthers have not had any draft pick stay for longer than their initial contracts since 2000 with the exception of Stephen Weiss (Rd. 1, #4, 2001) who now in his eighth NHL season (all with Florida) leads the team in scoring. The Panthers traded their top pick to Vancouver in 2000 as part of the Pavel Bure trade and drafted no one of any importance that year. Since being drafted in 2001, Weiss remains the lone Panthers draft pick from this era still with the franchise. Weiss has totaled 321 points (118 goals, 203 assists) in 534 games with the Panthers as of this writing. Florida took Krajicek in the second round that year but sent him to Vancouver after only one year with the team. In 2002, the Panthers held two top 10 picks taking Jay Bouwmeester 3rd overall and Petr Taticek 9th. Bouwmeester was solid for six years, playing in all 82 games five of those seasons but pending unrestricted free agency led Florida to trade him to Calgary in 2009. The Panthers got defenseman Jordan Leopold in return who played three-quarters a season for Florida before being shipped to Pittsburgh. Taticek spent three seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) but only appeared in 3 NHL games in his career. Taticek has spent the last five seasons playing in Switzerland.
The Panthers held the top pick in 2003 but decided to trade down to the number three slot giving Pittsburgh the opportunity to draft Marc-Andre Fleury who would reward them with the Stanley Cup six years later. Along with swapping draft picks, Florida also received Mikael Samuelsson who would only appear in 37 games with the Panthers. Samuelsson headed for Detroit where he won the Stanley Cup in 2008. After Carolina took Eric Staal with the second pick, Florida opted for Horton who tallied five 20-goal seasons in six years with the Panthers before being sent to Boston with 2002 third rounder (67th overall) Greg Campbell for defenseman Dennis Wideman and Boston’s first round pick in 2010. As they had the previous year, Florida held two draft picks in the first round in 2003 taking forward Anthony Stewart 25th overall. Stewart struggled with the Panthers who let him leave as a free agent following the 2009 season. Stewart signed with Atlanta where he is now having success.
The Panthers have been keeping draft picks since 2004 with the team. Rotislav Olesz, taken in the first round (7th overall) in 2004 and David Booth (Rd. 2, #53, 2004) have become key cogs in the young Panthers core. Booth hit the 30-goal mark in 2008-09 while Olesz has scored a career high 14 goals twice. With 2005 first round pick (20th overall) Kenndal McArdle nowhere near where they thought he would be six years after being drafted and Michael Frolik (Rd. 1, #10, 2006) being traded to Chicago after scoring 21 goals in his first two seasons but having his production drop to eight goals in 52 games, Florida is banking on Jack Skille, drafted by the Blackhawks in the first round (7th overall) in 2005 to take his place. Since drafting Frolik, only defenseman Dmitri Kulikov (Rd. 1, #14, 2009) has earned a full time spot on the Panthers’ roster. The Panthers are banking on Eric Gudbranson, currently playing in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) for Kingston, to join Kulikov on the blue line in the future. Defenseman Keaton Ellerby (Rd. 1, #10, 2007) and Michal Repik (Rd. 2, #40, 2007) have bounced between Florida and their top affiliate in Rochester since being drafted. Along with Gudbranson, the Panthers are hoping their two other first round draft picks will help the team in the future. Nick Bjustad (19th overall) is currently a freshman at the University of Minnesota while Quinton Howden is still playing for Moose Jaw in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Without getting anybody onto their roster from the later rounds of the draft, the Panthers have fell behind other teams who have drafted more effectively in that time period.
It’s funny to think that the Florida Panthers were the most successful expansion team since the Edmonton Oilers made the playoffs in 1980. The 1993-94 version of the team wound up with 14 more points than those Oilers but did not benefit from playing in a time where just about every team qualified to compete for the Stanley Cup. They missed the playoffs by a single point that year. In the lockout shortened 1994-95 season, Florida narrowly missed the playoffs as the defending champion New York Rangers held them off by only one point again.
Finally in 1996 they broke through winning three playoff rounds (their only postseason series victories in franchise history) and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals where they were simply overmatched by a rising Colorado Avalanche team that was in the midst of setting a record for consecutive division titles won. That year, the Panthers handled Boston before disposing of the top-seeded Philadelphia Flyers in six games. Since the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals, where they edged the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games, Florida has won exactly ONE playoff game. In 1997, the Panthers served as the foil for Wayne Gretzky’s final curtain in the NHL playoffs. After Vanbiesbrouk shut out his former mates for a Game 1 victory, the Rangers fought back by winning the next two games. This was the last time the Panthers led in a playoff series. Up 1-0 in the second period of Game 4, Gretzky set the stage for his final bow with three goals in 6:23 sending Madison Square Garden into an absolute frenzy. The Rangers prevailed in five games. After two subpar seasons, the Panthers were back in the playoffs but were ousted in a four game sweep by the eventual champions from New Jersey. The Panthers are yet to return to the playoffs since the Devils used them as the first stepping stone to the franchise’s second Stanley Cup.
So how did this happen? From John Vanbiesbrouk in the early years of the franchise to Sean Burke to aging Conn Smythe winning goaltender Mike Vernon to Roberto Luongo and even now Tomas Vokoun, the Panthers have always been solid in net. That’s never been the problem. From Robert Svehla and Ed Jovanovski to Jay Bouwmeester, the Panthers have boasted some of the league’s top blue liners but the depth on D has never been solved. Making matters worse, the Panthers have had only two legitimate offensive threats in their 17-year history: Pavel Bure and Olli Jokinen. Bure, acquired in a trade that sent a package including Jovanovski to Vancouver, had two remarkable seasons in Florida. In 1999-00 and 2000-01, the “Russian Rocket” scored 58 and 59 goals respectively, winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal scorer both years. Quite an impressive feat. Bure, played in 56 games in 2001-02 before being dealt to the Rangers but still led the team in scoring at season’s end. In the playoff season of 1999-2000, Bure had secondary scoring help from Ray Whitney and Viktor Kozlov who each hit the 70 point mark. However, Bure was counted on too much the following season (2000-01). Though he scored one more goal than he did the previous season, Bure and the Panthers went from winning 43 games to a meager 22. The problem? Simple, Bure had to score or the team would lose. At season’s end he had amassed 30 percent of Florida’s goals. Remarkably, Bure led the team in assists as well though his total of 33 showed that the Panthers did not have a true assist man that season. Consider Kozlov who finished second on the team in scoring had only 14 goals and 25 assists.
With Bure gone, eventually retiring prematurely in 2003 due to injuries, it was time for Olli Jokinen to lead the Panthers attack. The Panthers finished the two years prior to the lockout with subpar teams but emerged as a surprising team post-lockout. With Jokinen now free to play his game with the new rules in place, he managed three straight seasons (2005-08) with goal totals of 38, 39 and 34. However, just like Bure, Jokinen had no secondary scoring. Despite top pick from 2003 Nathan Horton, Jokinen found himself carrying the majority of the workload scoring 16 percent of the team’s goals in those three seasons. Horton played admirably but didn’t even come close to threatening Jokinen for the team lead. The Panthers only missed the 2006-07 playoffs by four points, though four other teams had higher point totals than them and also missed the playoffs. Florida came oh so very close to that elusive playoff berth in 2008-09 but a tiebreaker was given to Montreal due to head to head matchup results. How heartbreaking was it? Both Florida and Montreal finished the season at 41-30-11. Florida had a better goal differential (which would have been the third tiebreaker) by exactly one goal but the eighth seed went to the Habs. Will this team ever make the playoffs again? All probability points to yes but reality seems to point to no.
Usually when an expansion team enters the NHL, they struggle for a few years while developing their young talent. When the young talent is ready, you add a few free agents and you have yourself a playoff team. This happened in both San Jose and Ottawa, who entered the league in 1991 and 1992, respectively after both teams set the record for most losses in a row in NHL history. For the Panthers, the exact OPPOSITE happened! They had a great expansion draft getting Vanbiesbrouk and veteran forwards Scott Mellanby and Brian Skrudland, the latter of whom won the cup with Montreal in 1986. Add rookie Rob Niedermayer and defenseman Ed Jovanovski from the draft and forward Johan Garpenlov, Stu Barnes and Ray Sheppard from outside the organization and the formula is proven to be a winner. And it was for two years but starting in 1997-98 mediocrity began when Florida failed to win 25 games. The following season Jovanovski went to Vancouver as part of the Pavel Bure deal where he played for seven seasons followed by another five in Phoenix. Niedermayer stayed for eight years but his production dropped mightily before he was traded to Calgary for the “Russian Rocket’s” brother Valeri Bure in 2002. Niedermayer would go on to have success in Anaheim where he won the Stanly Cup in 2007 and played in the finals in 2003. Ironically, Anaheim was the other team to enter the league in 1993 alongside Florida.
In the time since their final playoff appearance in 2000, the Panthers have not retained a core of players for any significant length of time. Jokinen became the face of the franchise in his seven year stint with the organization. Florida tried the European route to establish a core of players around him but by the lockout in 2005, most of those players had departed and never really got to establish themselves in Florida. Along with Pavel Bure and Kozlov, both Russians acquired in separate trades, the Panthers added Swedes Marcus Nilson, their first round pick in 1996 (20th overall), and Kristian Huselius, a second rounder (47th overall) in 1997. Also in the mix was third round selection (70th, 1999) Niklas Hagman. The Panthers gave up on Hagman in 2005-06 when he was traded to Dallas for a seventh round draft pick but since the trade, Hagman has had three 20-goal seasons in the league. Bure, as mentioned before, was shipped to the New York Rangers in 2002 while Nilson was sent to Calgary for a second round selection. Though Nilson never flourished in Calgary, eventually going back to his native Sweden to play, he helped the Flames get to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals where he recorded 4 goals and seven assists in their miraculous playoff run in 2004. Huselius hit the 20-goal mark twice in his first two NHL seasons but in his third season he only lit the lamp 10 times. Florida gave up on him after 24 games into the 2005-06 season sending him to join Nilson in Calgary. In return, the team received Steve Montador who played 2-1/2 seasons with Florida before bolting the organization for Anaheim in 2008. Huselius became a star in Calgary with a 34 goal, 77 point performance in 2006-07. Since the trade, Huselius has never scored less than 20 goals in a season with both the Flames and Columbus. It’s just another case of the organization panicking too quickly after one bad season. In goal, the deal that sent Roberto Luongo and Lukas Krajicek to Vancouver has not paid the dividends they were hoping for. The Panthers got controversial forward Todd Bertuzzi who only played seven games with the team in an injury plagued season that saw him traded to Detroit before it ended. Alex Auld, originally drafted in 1999 (Rd. 2, #40) came back to the organization to back up an aging Ed Belfour for one year. Defenseman Bryan Allen, Vancouver’s first round selection (4th) overall in 1998, turned out to be the best player in the deal. Allen has turned into a steady blueliner in Florida since the trade.
The Panthers have not had any draft pick stay for longer than their initial contracts since 2000 with the exception of Stephen Weiss (Rd. 1, #4, 2001) who now in his eighth NHL season (all with Florida) leads the team in scoring. The Panthers traded their top pick to Vancouver in 2000 as part of the Pavel Bure trade and drafted no one of any importance that year. Since being drafted in 2001, Weiss remains the lone Panthers draft pick from this era still with the franchise. Weiss has totaled 321 points (118 goals, 203 assists) in 534 games with the Panthers as of this writing. Florida took Krajicek in the second round that year but sent him to Vancouver after only one year with the team. In 2002, the Panthers held two top 10 picks taking Jay Bouwmeester 3rd overall and Petr Taticek 9th. Bouwmeester was solid for six years, playing in all 82 games five of those seasons but pending unrestricted free agency led Florida to trade him to Calgary in 2009. The Panthers got defenseman Jordan Leopold in return who played three-quarters a season for Florida before being shipped to Pittsburgh. Taticek spent three seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) but only appeared in 3 NHL games in his career. Taticek has spent the last five seasons playing in Switzerland.
The Panthers held the top pick in 2003 but decided to trade down to the number three slot giving Pittsburgh the opportunity to draft Marc-Andre Fleury who would reward them with the Stanley Cup six years later. Along with swapping draft picks, Florida also received Mikael Samuelsson who would only appear in 37 games with the Panthers. Samuelsson headed for Detroit where he won the Stanley Cup in 2008. After Carolina took Eric Staal with the second pick, Florida opted for Horton who tallied five 20-goal seasons in six years with the Panthers before being sent to Boston with 2002 third rounder (67th overall) Greg Campbell for defenseman Dennis Wideman and Boston’s first round pick in 2010. As they had the previous year, Florida held two draft picks in the first round in 2003 taking forward Anthony Stewart 25th overall. Stewart struggled with the Panthers who let him leave as a free agent following the 2009 season. Stewart signed with Atlanta where he is now having success.
The Panthers have been keeping draft picks since 2004 with the team. Rotislav Olesz, taken in the first round (7th overall) in 2004 and David Booth (Rd. 2, #53, 2004) have become key cogs in the young Panthers core. Booth hit the 30-goal mark in 2008-09 while Olesz has scored a career high 14 goals twice. With 2005 first round pick (20th overall) Kenndal McArdle nowhere near where they thought he would be six years after being drafted and Michael Frolik (Rd. 1, #10, 2006) being traded to Chicago after scoring 21 goals in his first two seasons but having his production drop to eight goals in 52 games, Florida is banking on Jack Skille, drafted by the Blackhawks in the first round (7th overall) in 2005 to take his place. Since drafting Frolik, only defenseman Dmitri Kulikov (Rd. 1, #14, 2009) has earned a full time spot on the Panthers’ roster. The Panthers are banking on Eric Gudbranson, currently playing in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) for Kingston, to join Kulikov on the blue line in the future. Defenseman Keaton Ellerby (Rd. 1, #10, 2007) and Michal Repik (Rd. 2, #40, 2007) have bounced between Florida and their top affiliate in Rochester since being drafted. Along with Gudbranson, the Panthers are hoping their two other first round draft picks will help the team in the future. Nick Bjustad (19th overall) is currently a freshman at the University of Minnesota while Quinton Howden is still playing for Moose Jaw in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Without getting anybody onto their roster from the later rounds of the draft, the Panthers have fell behind other teams who have drafted more effectively in that time period.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Moulson signing means more than it seems
By Greg Maker
It’s not often that you get excited when your favorite team signs a player that really hasn’t proven themselves in the league long-term. For the New York Islanders, keeping Matt Moulson through 2014 is a move that matters on many levels. First and foremost the National Hockey League (NHL) is all about winning games. That is what Moulson should help the young Isles do in the future. However, and more importantly, Moulson’s commitment to Long Island tells a dwindling fan base that one of their own is not only willing to stay but actually wants to make the franchise competitive again.
Ever since Kirk Muller turned his back on the Islanders in 1995, a sort of standard has been set with playe
rs not wanting to play on Long Island (most don’t admit it). After Muller, Craig Darby and Mathieu Schneider were acquired from the Montreal Canadiens for Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov at the 1995 trade deadline, a trend of stupid decisions began though this one was made by former Islanders General Manager (GM) and current Phoenix Coyotes GM Don Maloney who left the organization before the calendar changed to 1996. It wasn’t Mike Milbury time just yet. Turgeon had been the most solid Islanders player since their dynasty years. In only 3-1/2 seasons on Long Island, Turgeon managed to record 340 points in only 255 games including 147 goals. In 1993, the last season the Isles have won a playoff series to date, Turgeon scored 58 times and notched 74 assists. One of those goals also ended the rival New York Rangers chances at making the playoffs that year. Turgeon even won the Lady Byng Trophy as the league’s most “gentlemanly” player. Why is this important? The Islanders have not had a player score 50 goals in a season since then. Even Zigmund Palffy, who tallied 136 goals in three seasons (1995-98), never hit the 50-goal mark. What about Muller? The former perennial 30-goal scorer posted seven goals and eight assists in 27 games with the Islanders before his whining got him traded to Toronto early in the 1995-96 season. Muller was never the same afterwards. He only hit the 20-goal mark once since his trade to the Maple Leafs before floundering in Florida and taking a checking role with Dallas. Muller made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2000 with the Stars but they would have made it without him. 
Maybe you can blame Muller’s inefficiencies on the defensive nature of the game from the mid 1990’s to early 2000’s but Turgeon managed at least 20 goals six times in that time period, three of those he scored at least 30. As a member of the St. Louis Blues for five years (1996-2001), Turgeon placed second on the team in scoring four of those seasons, helping the Blues to their only President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best team in 1999-2000. He even led the team in scoring in his final season in St. Louis. Muller was more than washed up by then. What about the other players the Islanders’ got in the trade? Darby only played 13 games with the Islanders, picking up only two assists, and remained a minor leaguer for the remainder of his career other than two seasons back in Montreal a few years after the Islanders acquired him. Schneider acted like a professional and played like an all-star (the Isles only representative in 1996), picking up 14 goals and 42 assists with Long Island, though he never played with the team for a full season. Milbury sent him to join Muller in Toronto, making him one of the leading blue liners in the league with several different teams before his retirement in 2010. Milbury was able to get defensive prospect Kenny Jonsson from the Maple Leafs as part of the trade who remained steady on the Isles blue line for the next nine seasons while Malakhov remained successful.
This history lesson is a little off topic but I include it to prove a point: The Islanders have not been a serious contender for the Stanley Cup ever since they traded Turgeon. A string of more h
orrible trades, including top draft picks including Eric Brewer, J.P. Dumont, Tim Connolly and Roberto Luongo, not to mention several ownership changes, have left the once proud franchise in the dust. Remember when John Spano bought the team in 1996 only to have them find out that he never had the money in the first place? Moulson is by far no superstar. He probably couldn’t make the top line on 25 teams in the NHL but there is one thing he is: reliable. Moulson has yet to miss a game since GM Garth Snow signed him in the summer of 2009. Moulson has rewarded his boss with 78 points, including 42 goals for the Islanders as of this writing. This included a 30-goal season in 2009-10, which no Islander had done since Jason Blake hit the 40-goal plateau in the last time the team made the playoffs in 2006-07. The season before Moulson signed with the Islanders, no forward even had 40 points! Think about that. The schedule is 82 games. Though defenseman Mark Streit put up a stellar 56 points, finding the back of the net 16 times, top forward Kyle Okposo only managed to score 18 times to lead the team in goals. That awful season landed the Isles the first pick where they selected Moulson’s best friend John Tavares. Tavares has managed to shine for the Isles in his short time there, but skeptics feel that the once Canadian junior superstar is in a bad situation. After all, the Nassau Coliseum can’t exactly hold a candle to new venues across the league where the players have amazing buildings to call home. Playing in front of 60 percent capacity night in and night out has to be frustrating, especially when divisional rivals like the Rangers, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia come to town with their large fan bases that makes you as an Islanders’ fan feel like the home team is playing a road game. Tavares is a restricted free agent so he’d be on the Islanders for the next three years regardless but having his best friend on his wing has to help his attitude. The Isles have picked it up after a stretch of 20 games early in the season where they won only once. Including a defeat of Anaheim on Dec. 16, 2010, the Isles have played .500 hockey (12-10-2). Both their penalty kill and power play are ranked in the top half of the league (14th in PP and PK). Without gaping holes in goal, the Isles might have won five more of those games. Obviously the playoffs have been out of the question since November but it’s tryout time for all the youngsters. For a ninth-round draft pick (Pittsburgh, 263rd, 2003) Moulson has accomplished more than he was expected to, at least on draft day. Injuries have decimated the Islanders this year but so has inconsistent play. Maybe Moulson’s signing will lead to more of these up and coming younger players to follow suit and stay on Long Island. This leads to one of the team’s most pressing issues, even though an injury has kept him out all season, please re-sign Mark Streit.
Photos Courtesy: Matt Moulson: zimbio.com; Kirk Muller: kdshf.ca; Pierre Turgeon: halloffamememorabilia.com; John Spano: John Giamundo/Getty Images
It’s not often that you get excited when your favorite team signs a player that really hasn’t proven themselves in the league long-term. For the New York Islanders, keeping Matt Moulson through 2014 is a move that matters on many levels. First and foremost the National Hockey League (NHL) is all about winning games. That is what Moulson should help the young Isles do in the future. However, and more importantly, Moulson’s commitment to Long Island tells a dwindling fan base that one of their own is not only willing to stay but actually wants to make the franchise competitive again.Ever since Kirk Muller turned his back on the Islanders in 1995, a sort of standard has been set with playe
rs not wanting to play on Long Island (most don’t admit it). After Muller, Craig Darby and Mathieu Schneider were acquired from the Montreal Canadiens for Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov at the 1995 trade deadline, a trend of stupid decisions began though this one was made by former Islanders General Manager (GM) and current Phoenix Coyotes GM Don Maloney who left the organization before the calendar changed to 1996. It wasn’t Mike Milbury time just yet. Turgeon had been the most solid Islanders player since their dynasty years. In only 3-1/2 seasons on Long Island, Turgeon managed to record 340 points in only 255 games including 147 goals. In 1993, the last season the Isles have won a playoff series to date, Turgeon scored 58 times and notched 74 assists. One of those goals also ended the rival New York Rangers chances at making the playoffs that year. Turgeon even won the Lady Byng Trophy as the league’s most “gentlemanly” player. Why is this important? The Islanders have not had a player score 50 goals in a season since then. Even Zigmund Palffy, who tallied 136 goals in three seasons (1995-98), never hit the 50-goal mark. What about Muller? The former perennial 30-goal scorer posted seven goals and eight assists in 27 games with the Islanders before his whining got him traded to Toronto early in the 1995-96 season. Muller was never the same afterwards. He only hit the 20-goal mark once since his trade to the Maple Leafs before floundering in Florida and taking a checking role with Dallas. Muller made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2000 with the Stars but they would have made it without him. 
Maybe you can blame Muller’s inefficiencies on the defensive nature of the game from the mid 1990’s to early 2000’s but Turgeon managed at least 20 goals six times in that time period, three of those he scored at least 30. As a member of the St. Louis Blues for five years (1996-2001), Turgeon placed second on the team in scoring four of those seasons, helping the Blues to their only President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best team in 1999-2000. He even led the team in scoring in his final season in St. Louis. Muller was more than washed up by then. What about the other players the Islanders’ got in the trade? Darby only played 13 games with the Islanders, picking up only two assists, and remained a minor leaguer for the remainder of his career other than two seasons back in Montreal a few years after the Islanders acquired him. Schneider acted like a professional and played like an all-star (the Isles only representative in 1996), picking up 14 goals and 42 assists with Long Island, though he never played with the team for a full season. Milbury sent him to join Muller in Toronto, making him one of the leading blue liners in the league with several different teams before his retirement in 2010. Milbury was able to get defensive prospect Kenny Jonsson from the Maple Leafs as part of the trade who remained steady on the Isles blue line for the next nine seasons while Malakhov remained successful.
This history lesson is a little off topic but I include it to prove a point: The Islanders have not been a serious contender for the Stanley Cup ever since they traded Turgeon. A string of more h
orrible trades, including top draft picks including Eric Brewer, J.P. Dumont, Tim Connolly and Roberto Luongo, not to mention several ownership changes, have left the once proud franchise in the dust. Remember when John Spano bought the team in 1996 only to have them find out that he never had the money in the first place? Moulson is by far no superstar. He probably couldn’t make the top line on 25 teams in the NHL but there is one thing he is: reliable. Moulson has yet to miss a game since GM Garth Snow signed him in the summer of 2009. Moulson has rewarded his boss with 78 points, including 42 goals for the Islanders as of this writing. This included a 30-goal season in 2009-10, which no Islander had done since Jason Blake hit the 40-goal plateau in the last time the team made the playoffs in 2006-07. The season before Moulson signed with the Islanders, no forward even had 40 points! Think about that. The schedule is 82 games. Though defenseman Mark Streit put up a stellar 56 points, finding the back of the net 16 times, top forward Kyle Okposo only managed to score 18 times to lead the team in goals. That awful season landed the Isles the first pick where they selected Moulson’s best friend John Tavares. Tavares has managed to shine for the Isles in his short time there, but skeptics feel that the once Canadian junior superstar is in a bad situation. After all, the Nassau Coliseum can’t exactly hold a candle to new venues across the league where the players have amazing buildings to call home. Playing in front of 60 percent capacity night in and night out has to be frustrating, especially when divisional rivals like the Rangers, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia come to town with their large fan bases that makes you as an Islanders’ fan feel like the home team is playing a road game. Tavares is a restricted free agent so he’d be on the Islanders for the next three years regardless but having his best friend on his wing has to help his attitude. The Isles have picked it up after a stretch of 20 games early in the season where they won only once. Including a defeat of Anaheim on Dec. 16, 2010, the Isles have played .500 hockey (12-10-2). Both their penalty kill and power play are ranked in the top half of the league (14th in PP and PK). Without gaping holes in goal, the Isles might have won five more of those games. Obviously the playoffs have been out of the question since November but it’s tryout time for all the youngsters. For a ninth-round draft pick (Pittsburgh, 263rd, 2003) Moulson has accomplished more than he was expected to, at least on draft day. Injuries have decimated the Islanders this year but so has inconsistent play. Maybe Moulson’s signing will lead to more of these up and coming younger players to follow suit and stay on Long Island. This leads to one of the team’s most pressing issues, even though an injury has kept him out all season, please re-sign Mark Streit.Photos Courtesy: Matt Moulson: zimbio.com; Kirk Muller: kdshf.ca; Pierre Turgeon: halloffamememorabilia.com; John Spano: John Giamundo/Getty Images
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Isles are heartbreakers again
It was four months ago I walked into one of the last rows at the Nassau Colisseum for John Tavares' debut with the New York Islanders. The place was electric. The "Let's Go Islanders" chants were contagious and so loud they drowned out the P.A. system. There was hope and for much of the season they kept it up. Tavares was producing, Matt Moulson, a gamble out of Cornell, is leading the team in scoring, Kyle Okposo looks fantastic, Josh Bailey was looking like the Top 10 pick he was supposed to be and Dwayne Roloson was holding down the fort in goal.
Now they didn't start well and I figured their one win in the first 10 games was a sign of things to come for the whole season. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on the way you look at it) they rebounded. Not only did they rebound but they were in the playoff hunt. This is a team that finished with 61 points all of last season and they are beating teams like Pittsburgh, Washington and Boston. Of course Boston tanked so this is not impressive but still, they were number one in the east a year ago.
The worst stretch for me was Dec. 23, 2009 until Jan. 23, 2010. Wait a minute you say, (well you would but most people don't care about this team) the Isles went 10-3-1 in that time frame. What is so bad about that? It's because once again they teased me. On Jan. 21 I watched with my cousin, who had never been to an Isles' game before, as Moulson's shot hit the twine in the shootout for an Isles win. They were on a roll, in a playoff spot and the Coliseum, though only three-quarters full was louder than most buildings at capacity. What a tease! I mean really!
As I write this, the Isles are coming off a 3-1 loss to a rookie goaltender for Carolina, one of the worst teams in the league (record-wise at least) in his first ever start! It was their seventh consecutive loss and unlike the first 10 games, they didn't manage a single point.
I think it was premature of me to get excited for a team that has 13 players younger than me, no proven NHL goal scorers and a defense that seems to get injured very often. I still have faith that Tavares will develop into the player he is supposed to be but one goal in his last 18 games is unacceptable considering he was a strong Calder Trophy candidate. This year's rookie of the year is Buffalo's Tyler Myers by the way and he is playing for a team that missed the playoffs last year but will easily get in this year.
The Isles are only five points out of a playoff spot but I want them to end my misery now. All I have forward to look for is another lottery pick who will probably bust anyway.
Now they didn't start well and I figured their one win in the first 10 games was a sign of things to come for the whole season. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on the way you look at it) they rebounded. Not only did they rebound but they were in the playoff hunt. This is a team that finished with 61 points all of last season and they are beating teams like Pittsburgh, Washington and Boston. Of course Boston tanked so this is not impressive but still, they were number one in the east a year ago.
The worst stretch for me was Dec. 23, 2009 until Jan. 23, 2010. Wait a minute you say, (well you would but most people don't care about this team) the Isles went 10-3-1 in that time frame. What is so bad about that? It's because once again they teased me. On Jan. 21 I watched with my cousin, who had never been to an Isles' game before, as Moulson's shot hit the twine in the shootout for an Isles win. They were on a roll, in a playoff spot and the Coliseum, though only three-quarters full was louder than most buildings at capacity. What a tease! I mean really!
As I write this, the Isles are coming off a 3-1 loss to a rookie goaltender for Carolina, one of the worst teams in the league (record-wise at least) in his first ever start! It was their seventh consecutive loss and unlike the first 10 games, they didn't manage a single point.
I think it was premature of me to get excited for a team that has 13 players younger than me, no proven NHL goal scorers and a defense that seems to get injured very often. I still have faith that Tavares will develop into the player he is supposed to be but one goal in his last 18 games is unacceptable considering he was a strong Calder Trophy candidate. This year's rookie of the year is Buffalo's Tyler Myers by the way and he is playing for a team that missed the playoffs last year but will easily get in this year.
The Isles are only five points out of a playoff spot but I want them to end my misery now. All I have forward to look for is another lottery pick who will probably bust anyway.
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