Piazza31

Thank you for getting my hockey brain rolling, though. I like this. I really haven't followed hockey since the first lockout- I am surprised I remember most of this. Needless to say all I really know about the game today is goaltenders.

As a goalie... You can't just continue to platoon. Eventually both wheels fall off. Be it from playing the hot hand, or from age, or from inactivity from being the "cold" hand. You need to have a number one, and a solid number two. Without it, and your team has a chance to gonas your goalies go. Remember Minnesota when they had Roloson and Fernandez, they didn't get too far. Or the Rangers with Vanbiesbrouck and Ricther. Eventually good young pairs are split up, eventually veteran goalie platoons are broken down. Besides, Theodore and Clemenson are not the answer at goalie. Markstrom may be, but if he isn't the goalie door will keep revolving. Since luongo left we've had belfour, auld, Anderson, Belfour, Clemenson, Salak, Voukoun. Shoot- since Beezer left in 98 it's a who's who of has beens. Weekes, belfour, Voukoun, Vernon, McLean, shalentokov (the old ducks goalie) Burke, auld, Kidd. Point is- you need someone to lock down the position- just one. If you develop capable backups- great but you need a number one. I love what San Jose did with Warren Strelow at the helm. With him there the sharks developed Kiprusoff, Toskala, Nabokov, Shafer, Hedberg. Shoot Strelow even developed Broduer. If the Panthers can develop a system of number ones, than go and let luongo play elsewhere, but this team has never developed a number one in 20 years- I have little faith they can do it now too. Btw- it sucks writing novels on your phone. As a fan of hockey (and no mean to slight you, Mr. Goalie), I can tell you that platooning goaltenders works just fine. It just depends on the defensive system in front of them more than anything else. Take a look at Scott Clemmensen, for example. He was highly successful in NJ, and when we took him over here he was god awful under DeBoer. When Tallon/Dineen took over, he was successful once again. Roloson and Fernandez were an excellent combo, I don't know what you're talking about. So was Roloson/Harding, and so is Backstrom/Harding. Your Beezer/Richter example doesn't hold up at all though. Beezer sucked as a Ranger, plain and simple. And you're vastly underrating Jacob Markstrom. He's not only one of the best goalie prospects in hockey, he's one of the best prospects in hockey period. From the Panthers organization perspective, they should be painting the spot for him. Not buying Luongo to sit on the bench for $5 million. Furthermore, your list of Panthers goalies doesn't say much. Belfour was old as shit and was signed as a backup to Alex Auld, who was a replacement to the blue chip goalie Roberto Luongo they'd just traded away. Belfour was good, but he was old. Alex Auld fucking sucked. Craig Anderson was a backup goalie. Salak was never a part of this team. Kevin Weekes was a backup. Ed Belfour was a backup. Tomas Vokoun was an all-star player and one of the best goalies in the NHL in his tenure with the Florida Panthers, so I don't know why you're calling him a has been. Mike Vernon was part of a very successful platooning with Trevor Kidd, which saw playoff hockey in 2000. Jamie McLennan was a backup. Shtalenkov was also part of the 2000 team, which went to the playoffs. So was Sean Burke. Alex Auld was never a has been, he was a never was. Trevor Kidd was part of, once again, successful platooning in his tenure with the Panthers (with Luongo as well). In fact, other than Alex Auld, the Florida Panthers have been highly successful in net, whether it be through superstar goalies like Vokoun or Luongo, good backups like Craig Anderson, or excellent platooning. They were so sucessful they didn't get to the playoffs for 10+ years with all of those goalies? What I'm getting at is a platoon has an effect on a goalie by ruining routine. Once that routine is ruined, it's difficult to get it back. When coaches like Torterella routinely play the hot hand until the magic is gone, the back up in that instance or 1B is usually rusty, overprepared and playing like he wants to keep his job- rather than playing because he's capable. Rolo/Fernandez/Harding was a great platoon, but they did nothing together. Beezer/Ricther was considered one of the best tandems in the game in the early 90's. Richter was the hot shot prospect, Beezer was the Vet who won a Vezina. With expansion they could only keep one, so Beezer went off to Vancouver (so VAN wouldn't have to give up one of their goalies). The point is platooning hasn't worked for this team, and it needs to come to an end. My hope is Luongo is bought out at the end of the year but I don't believe he will be a Canuck then. You find stability in net, and you can focus on offense and defense. We have a defense. We'll have a goalie for 3+ years. For the next 3 years we can focus on Forwards and Centers, which has proven to be our achilles heel with low scoring outputs. Tim Thomas is old (not retired yet though, Kiprusoff is old and capable, Brodeur the same. It is possible to be a strong goaltender in your late 30's. My opinion is get a long term answer at goalie, find some stability between the pipes- and continued success will follow. Markstrom should be in Florida playing to see what they have. This offseason its possible Luongo, Bryzgalov, Dipietro (I know, I know), and certain Thomas, Backstom, and Tomas Griess (I'd like to see him find a chance) will all be free agents. With a shortened season, and one I believe that has been compacted- you can have two goalies playing every other game with the same rest between a number 1 will get in a normal year. I like Markstrom, I hope he develops into a top 10 goalie in the least- but if he isn't the answer where do you go from there.

Congrats- I can't wait to have one of my own. The world can. Don't worry, he'll only make it rain.

As a goalie... You can't just continue to platoon. Eventually both wheels fall off. Be it from playing the hot hand, or from age, or from inactivity from being the "cold" hand. You need to have a number one, and a solid number two. Without it, and your team has a chance to gonas your goalies go. Remember Minnesota when they had Roloson and Fernandez, they didn't get too far. Or the Rangers with Vanbiesbrouck and Ricther. Eventually good young pairs are split up, eventually veteran goalie platoons are broken down. Besides, Theodore and Clemenson are not the answer at goalie. Markstrom may be, but if he isn't the goalie door will keep revolving. Since luongo left we've had belfour, auld, Anderson, Belfour, Clemenson, Salak, Voukoun. Shoot- since Beezer left in 98 it's a who's who of has beens. Weekes, belfour, Voukoun, Vernon, McLean, shalentokov (the old ducks goalie) Burke, auld, Kidd. Point is- you need someone to lock down the position- just one. If you develop capable backups- great but you need a number one. I love what San Jose did with Warren Strelow at the helm. With him there the sharks developed Kiprusoff, Toskala, Nabokov, Shafer, Hedberg. Shoot Strelow even developed Broduer. If the Panthers can develop a system of number ones, than go and let luongo play elsewhere, but this team has never developed a number one in 20 years- I have little faith they can do it now too. Btw- it sucks writing novels on your phone.

Give him a cheap Major League Deal and just cut him if he sucks. Your paying 15 million for Reyes bell and guillen to not work for you, why not add a bit more on top. Could he be a effective reliever?

Congrats- I can't wait to have one of my own.

Best way to keep up on hockey rumors is go to HFBoards.com and check up on the Trade Rumors and Free Agent Talk subforum. They're always the first place, and it's a collection of every site and Twitter so you don't have to do the searching. Thanks for the heads up, I'll check it out now.

Anyone know any good sites to get NHL Rumors? I'd like to track what is going on with Luongo right now but don't know a reliable source. For the record, even with his massive contract I'd want to trade for him unless its absolutely certain the Canucks are going to cut him at the end of the year instead of trading him. I think he's got a few more good years left, and he wants to play here. With the team that Tallon assembled I can see the window being relatively small to compete with the players we have now. With Luongo and one more piece I see the team possibly competing for a few years (3-4). If we could get him for nothing, yes. But since that's not going to happen, I give Luongo the stiff arm. I'd give up a few pieces for him, remember he's makign what 6 Mill this and for three more years? I'd do it. What can be sent I don't know, but I see Theodore going to Vancouver no matter what, and a Defenseman. If they let him walk with the exception they have next year I believe he'll sign in Florida if given the choice. His Wife's family is here, so is his home and he genuinely never wanted to leave. If he's traded, theres no way we get him ever again. 6 Mill for 3 years, 4 mill for 3 years and 2 mill for the remaining years is not a great bargain, but in the end he might end up being worth every penny AND if he keeps his body in shape could be a bargain in the end.

Anyone know any good sites to get NHL Rumors? I'd like to track what is going on with Luongo right now but don't know a reliable source. For the record, even with his massive contract I'd want to trade for him unless its absolutely certain the Canucks are going to cut him at the end of the year instead of trading him. I think he's got a few more good years left, and he wants to play here. With the team that Tallon assembled I can see the window being relatively small to compete with the players we have now. With Luongo and one more piece I see the team possibly competing for a few years (3-4). The Panthers have the best farm system in hockey right now. But is that farm system as impressive as Pittsburgh was, or even Edmonton's? I think they need to substantially complement that youth with players who's windows of opportunity are a few years old. How much longer will Jovo play? Or even Campell at this level? Markstrom has a chance to be a beast, but he also can be a bust. My point is that this year's team isn't even that good. The window is beyond this year. I don't know exactly how to compare it to the teams you mention, but there are a lot of good young players in the system. As for how long Jovo will play, I was hoping he'd retire before the season starts on Saturday since he's pretty terrible already. He had very little to do with the success the team had last year. Campbell will probably have a long career due to his style of play. Even if he regresses, he's not expected to be the team's future #1 on defense. The organization has a lot of young defensemen (Kulikov, Gudbranson, Matheson, Petrovic, etc.) who project to be good in the future. Some in the very near future. I view Jovo as a veteran D-Man to help the younger guys focus and acclimate. His roles going to be reduced this year. How much is unknown. As far as the Pittsburgh/Edmonton thing, its more of a: Pittsburgh: Their Guys came in and immediatly contributed, making them a playoff team and a Cup Champion pretty early in their careers. Second year or so in they were competing for the cup, and I think they won in the third or fourth year. Edmonton: All of the talent, but they havent seemed to put it together into a playoff apperance with Eberle, Hall, Hopkins and now Yakupov and the College Kid Schaultz. Three overall #1's in three years, and the best player so far of the bunch is a 22nd round pick. Their talent base is said to be amazing I just don't really see it. Hopefully these picks pan out, but what if they don't? I'm afraid well see another dark age of Panthers hockey without a top goalie and a few moves.

Anyone know any good sites to get NHL Rumors? I'd like to track what is going on with Luongo right now but don't know a reliable source. For the record, even with his massive contract I'd want to trade for him unless its absolutely certain the Canucks are going to cut him at the end of the year instead of trading him. I think he's got a few more good years left, and he wants to play here. With the team that Tallon assembled I can see the window being relatively small to compete with the players we have now. With Luongo and one more piece I see the team possibly competing for a few years (3-4). The Panthers have the best farm system in hockey right now. But is that farm system as impressive as Pittsburgh was, or even Edmonton's? I think they need to substantially complement that youth with players who's windows of opportunity are a few years old. How much longer will Jovo play? Or even Campell at this level? Markstrom has a chance to be a beast, but he also can be a bust.

234 walks, 131 of them intentional.

Anyone know any good sites to get NHL Rumors? I'd like to track what is going on with Luongo right now but don't know a reliable source. For the record, even with his massive contract I'd want to trade for him unless its absolutely certain the Canucks are going to cut him at the end of the year instead of trading him. I think he's got a few more good years left, and he wants to play here. With the team that Tallon assembled I can see the window being relatively small to compete with the players we have now. With Luongo and one more piece I see the team possibly competing for a few years (3-4).

If Bell still has a job in 2014 I'm convinced there is no god. He made a deal with the devil this offseason.

Silverstein in February.

Where would he play? New Orleans? Why do they want to bring in a light hitting outfielder when Hernandez, Ruggiano, and Peterson are waiting for their chances.

I would think that they would build around Giancarlo Stanton, but that might not happen. He's not a happy camper right now. The other young players on the team right now are going to be hard pressed to play at an All-Star level in the near future.

I'm not so sure who the Marlins view as players that they are going to build around. They might just have a revolving fire sale as long as Loria is the owner.

Please Backin2008, We need more threads of you pontificating upon your SoapBox. Tell us how this was Lorias plan all along, or how West Palm should have had the chance to support the team for 20 years. Please, teach the blinded masses!

Is it West Palms chance to show Miami Dade how it's done?

All time most handsome marlins team. Who you guys got? Mike Piazza, at Catcher and Catcher.

Not bad- anyone know where to find the info for it? I only found the fun fest one at RDS

Wow ... just, wow. This.

For those who are in the area it can be a fun time- free hot dogs and you can play catch on the field. For those who don't--- don't bother attending. http://rogerdeanstadium.com/events-home/event-details/?detail=72&r=0

Probably Puerto Rico He did say he would be honored to play for Puerto Rico, but he's playing for US

What squad? Yes! New Jersey for me!