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The Florida Panthers had money to spend in free agency, and loaded up, bringing in four forwards, one defenceman and a goaltender on the first day of free agency. Cheap Jerseys From China . Numbers Game looks at the Panthers big first day of free agency. The Panthers Get: LW Jussi Jokinen, C Dave Bolland, C, Derek MacKenzie, RW Shawn Thornton, D Willie Mitchell, G Al Montoya. The Florida Panthers headed into the offseason giving general manager Dale Tallon more financial freedom than theyve had in recent seasons, and he wasted no time spending that money, with mixed results. Jokinen, 31, had a strong season playing on Evgeni Malkins wing in Pittsburgh, scoring 57 points in 81 games, the second-best point total of his career. That situation is not a luxury that Jokinen can count on in Florida where, despite their young talent, they have no one in Malkins class, but Jokinen has shown that he can be a productive contributor with solid possession numbers when playing with skilled players. Slot him alongside young Finn Aleksander Barkov and that has the makings of a solid two-way line and maybe Jokinen isnt likely to be scoring 50-plus points in Florida, where no one scored even 40 points last season, but Jokinen can be a useful player for at least three of the four years for which he signed, at a total cost of $16-million. Then, things got silly. Coming into free agency, there was a natural connection to make between Dave Bolland and Panthers GM Dale Tallon, given their time together in Chicago, but Bolland is a third-line centre so its really hard to justify the kind of money and term that was given. Bolland signed a five-year, $27.5-million contract, and its just flat-out outrageous. Bolland played well with the Maple Leafs last season, at least he did when he was healthy, but hes missed 142 games over the past five seasons and is coming off a season in which he missed 59 games due to a sliced ankle tendon. At his best, Bolland has been productive, scoring more than 35 points three times, and handled a lot of tough assignments in terms of zone starts and quality of competition, but assuming that hes up to that level now, after his latest injury, seems a tad optimistic and paying money and term that is more typical of a top-six forward is just really difficult to digest. For a checking centre, he also hasnt been very good at limiting shots against while killing penalties. Sure, the Panthers are nowhere near the cap now, and maybe they never will be, but its hard to take a team from being also-rans to contenders simply by paying a checking centre a boatload of money. By contrast, Paul Stastny and Thomas Vanek were the only two free agent forwards to come at a higher cap hit and neither one signed for five years. They didnt get as much term as Dave Bolland. MacKenzie, a 33-year-old checking centre, has been a reliable fourth-liner for the Blue Jackets. He had a career-high 237 hits last season and in four seasons with the Blue Jackets, hes won 54.9% of his draws. Signed for three years and $3.9-million, MacKenzie gives the Panthers good depth down the middle and it looks like Bolland and MacKenzie are going to bump prospects like Brandon Pirri and Vince Trocheck down the depth chart, presumably right out of the Top 12 unless they can fit on the wing. Shawn Thornton is a tough guy whose game has been declining in recent seasons. Hes fought 90 times over the past six seasons, but thats about what the 36-year-old (who turns 37 later this month) can do at this point. Whether thats worth more than a million dollars per season or multiple years probably has different answers for teams that arent trying to reach the salary floor. After missing the entire 2012-2013 season, Willie Mitchell had a nice comeback season, playing more than 20 minutes a night, a crucial part of the Kings second Stanley Cup win in the past three seasons. Hes 37, so not the fleetest afoot, but Mitchell has size, strength and adds a shot of reliability to the Panthers defence. In Mitchell and Brian Campbell (at least for now), the Panthers have a couple veterans that could show the way for first overall draft pick Aaron Ekblad and Mitchell, while a decent addition gets a nice payday -- two years, $8.5-million -- to eat some minutes on the Panthers blueline. Backup goaltender Al Montoya is a 29-year-old who posted a .920 save percentage in 28 games with the Jets last season. Trouble is, in the prevous two seasons, his save percentage was .894, so its not really reasonable to expect more than Montoyas career average which is .910. Adding Montoya would figure to mark the end of Dan Ellis time in Florida, though it may be difficult to find a taker for a 34-year-old coming off the worst season of his career. The Florida Panthers spent big money in the summer of 2011, overpaying a bunch of veterans in order to reach the salary floor, and this year has a similar feel to it. The issue for the Panthers is that they are a franchise that has reached the postseason once in the past 13 years; they dont need to overpay free agents as much as they need to build a stable base of talent. With all the money the Panthers spent on July 1, theres not much reason to believe any of those players are going to be long-term answers. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Cheap Jerseys . Ramirez signed a minor league deal with the Cubs on Sunday and will be a player-coach at Triple-A Iowa after he gets some at-bats in extended spring training at the teams facility in Mesa, Arizona. The 41-year-old Ramirez is a . Wholesale NFL Jerseys . -- Michael Bennett gambled last off-season that playing on a one-year deal in Seattle would pay off in the future with the long-term contract he always wanted.CLEVELAND - Mike Hegan, the former major league player who was a longtime broadcaster with the Cleveland Indians, has died. He was 71. The Indians say Hegan had his family by his side when he died Wednesday morning in Hilton Head, S.C. No other details were provided by the team. Hegan was a radio and TV broadcaster for the Indians for 23 years. He retired after the 2011 season. He also spent 12 seasons as a broadcaster with tthe Milwaukee Brewers. Wholesale Jerseys. The son of former Indians catcher Jim Hegan made the AL All-Star team with the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and helped the Oakland Athletics win the 1972 World Series. He also played in the 1964 World Series with the New York Yankees. Hegan hit .242 with 53 homers and 229 RBIs in 965 career games with three organizations, getting most of his time at first base and in the outfield. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' ' |
