SUNRISE, Fl. ? If Florida Panthers coach Jacques Martin were to be fired in the near future, it would represent an embarrassment to team owner Alan Cohen.

 

But it may well happen, for the simple reason that keeping Martin around may be an even bigger embarrassment to Cohen. More importantly, it may be more expensive.

 

The Panthers now have lost 13 of their last 14 games, the most recent being the 2-1 victory by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

 

The announced attendance of 11,215 probably wasn?t even half that ? despite the fact that the team is selling promotional tickets for 75 cents.

 

And when you watch the Panthers play, it?s little wonder that the crowds are consistently small.

 

The concept of the new National Hockey League with its open, offence-oriented game, apparently has escaped Martin?s attention.

 

For the rest of Al Strachan's column, read Wednesday's Toronto Sun or torontosun.com

 

 

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Flori...29/1329452.html

 

I completely disagree. It should be Keenan's job that's on the line, not Jacques Martin. Keenan is the one who brought in all these old veterans with WELL DOCUMENTED injury problems. Keenan is the one who has allowed this team to go 1-15 without making any major trades. It's not Jacques Martin's fault that he has NO pure scorer's on the team. It's not Martin's fault that Nathan Horton, Niewy, and Olesz have been injured for such a long period of time. It's not his fault that Mezei who is one of our best penalty killers tore his ACL and is out for the season.

 

Keenan assembled this joke of a team, and there is only so much a coach could do with the product given to him. Not even Scotty Bowman could get this team to win hockey games on a regular basis. Keenan built this team around what would have worked in the OLD NHL and therein lies the problem.

And this, my friends, is why Broward doesn't want to build the Marlins a stadium.

Keenan'll last long enough to trade Luongo for some 6'7'' d-man and a few prospects, the team will tank, attendance will be in the toilet but Keenan got his blue collar kind of guy.

 

When a team has $10 million in cap space while quality players are offered up pretty much for free, it's the GM's fault if he doesn't make moves to tweek the problems facing the franchise.