Jamie McLennan will become a free agent on July 1st.

The Florida Panthers decided not to pick up the option on his contract Thursday, making the goaltender an unrestricted free agent at the beginning of next month. The 35-year-old is nothing more than a second or third string netminder at this point in his career and depending on the interest he garners in the off-season, McLennan may or may not be back in the NHL next season. Jun. 15 - 7:10 pm et

 

Sean Hill exercised his player option on Thursday and will return to Florida next season.

Hill had his poorest fantasy season in some time last year, registering only two goals and 20 points in 78 games with the Panthers. As he remains down the depth chart for powerplay time in Florida, he is no longer someone to consider even in deeper fantasy formats. Jun. 15 - 7:08 pm et

Detroit general manager Ken Holland told reporters Wednesday that the reason he was speaking to Panthers' GM Mike Keenan this week had nothing to do with a possible trade involving Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo.

"We were talking," Holland said, "about an exhibition game." Even if the discussion was about a possible deal between the clubs, Detroit will not move center Pavel Datsyuk, a player the Panthers allegedly covet. The Wings are looking to upgrade their starting goaltending position after deciding to part ways with Manny Legace. Chris Osgood may return as a backup, but Holland wants a bona fide star to be his starter. Jun. 15 - 7:30 am et

AP

Detroit Free Press

Aww man I loved Jamie. And the Detroit news is non news. If you want, I'll post my rather anger filled email to Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press I believe, that said the NHL should force Luongo to Detroit.

Aww man I loved Jamie. And the Detroit news is non news. If you want, I'll post my rather anger filled email to Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press I believe, that said the NHL should force Luongo to Detroit.

I would love to check that out. I really liked Jamie too.

Mr. Sharp, first I would like to start off with a little stat. For this so called hockey netherworld AKA the Southeast division. 4 times in the past 10 years have teams from the division made the Stanley Cup Finals. Thats one more than the Red Wings in the past 10 years. Sure make all you want about how the Red Wings are one team and the Southeast division comprises of 5 seperate teams. But make no mistake, the Southeast Division has some of the best young talent in hockey and will probably see the most cup contenders in the next 10 years than any other division.

 

Now for your comment about Florida. Yeah, we are hockey's netherworld....not. If last season was any indication this Florida team is ready to breakout more than ever. Roberto Luongo has explicitly stated that he wishes to remain in South Florida. There is no way he'd go to Detroit on his own. Especially since his wife's family is all in South Florida. He is even building a new home in South Florida where it costs more to build a home, maintain it through the high cost of living here, and deal with the threat of hurricanes (If you haven't noticed Mr. Sharp, insurance for Hurricanes is absolutely through the roof with no sign of coming down). Its even becoming difficult for some of South Florida's most affluent to maintain their lifestyle down here. Detroit, on the other hand, is a town which is stuck in the civil right's movement of the 60s. Its one of the least appealing big cities in America.

 

Enough of that tangent. Back to Luongo. We signed Olli Jokinen long term after promises from our ownership. We resigned Chris Gratton, a key member of the Panthers resurgance and a key locker room personality. Luongo watched the last 2 months of Jay Bouwmeester where he grew up in all of our eyes becoming the dangerous offensive blueliner we had all envisioned. This Florida Panthers team is solid. Not a netherworld. Not a craphole like you make it out to be. And anyway, the only thing holding Luongo from resigning long term here is the fact that the CBA prohibits RFAs from getting No-Trade Clauses in their contracts. Otherwise it would be a done deal already.

 

Insult our fandom down here. It doesn't help when the team is in its second decade of life with only recently, its first generation of young hockey fans, the basis of any team's sports life, were old enough to be able to buy tickets on the season ticket level. Trust me, if Detroit were at all like Miami, there wouldn't be so many Red Wings fans. You know why? Its because a large majority of the population comes from the Northeast. Organized hockey as a youth sport is booming down here. If you don't believe me, check out where quite a few of the youth hockey league champions for the national level have come from in recent years. You guessed it! Florida. But back to the Northeast. As is shown by the Florida Marlins, a lot of people in South Florida retained their ties to their teams of their childhood. Give South Florida 20 years. Soon you will be seeing more Panthers caps than Rangers or Bruins.

 

 

And its actually 5 times in the past 10 years. I missed the Capitals one.

I'm kind of disappointed to see Jamie go. The last game I went to last season he was playing for Luongo and did a brilliant job.

 

And awesojava script:emoticon job on the letter B4P. :thumbup

Awesome email B4P!

Thank you!

 

 

 

BTW, Panthers signed Ville Peltonen. I believe he played for the Finnish National Team with Olli. Should be interesting. Definetly adds some depth.

great email to him