MintyFresh88
Registered User
Stacked top 6. Bottom 6, not so much (they have serious depth issues, which is why a lot of people think they are struggling in the playoffs).
Confirmed with Link: Panthers sign Dave Bolland (5x5.5)
- Thread starter ucanthanzalthetruth
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Stacked top 6. Bottom 6, not so much (they have serious depth issues, which is why a lot of people think they are struggling in the playoffs).
nuck
Schrodingers Cat
- Aug 18, 2005
- 11,462
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He is a good player but is broken all the time. I am shocked that he got this money and term with his history of missing games but there was more than one interested party. If he plays 70+ a year he is a valuable guy which is why the Leafs were offering close to $5m + term as well. His injuries are frequent but never repeating and that is the key, and I guess what they are gambling on. If they overpay by $2m a year on a $69m cap its a drop in the bucket. If he misses 20-30 games a year that is the killer because he never gets to play at a sustained 100%, but isn't on LTIR enough to spend the money on a replacement. Just needs to be healthy.
It's not a question of whether Bolland is a better player than a guy like Goc. The question is, how much better is he? 4 million better? Even Bolland's biggest fans would be delusional to admit that.
Bolland's reputation comes from his playoffs four years ago. It's ridiculous to overpay to the extent we did because the guy had one great postseason for our GM four years ago.
Bolland's reputation comes from his playoffs four years ago. It's ridiculous to overpay to the extent we did because the guy had one great postseason for our GM four years ago.
Anod
Registered User
I would say Bolland is 2 million better than Goc, with 2 million over payment, BUT Bolland also has much higher upside due to his age, and history. Goc is what he is at his age, where Bolland has been hampered by injuries, so he hasn't had much opportunity to reach his potential. Also consider that he was not needed to produce points in Chicago ever. In Florida he will be leaned on to produce 5 on 5, more regularly with likely more ice time.
And we signed Bergenheim for one playoff performance, and I remember when he was signed people thought it was an overpayment at the time, but IMO he was our best, most valuable signing that year. It's too bad he missed a year and a half due to injury, but he came back last year and didn't seam to miss a beat.
The thing with comparing Goc with Bolland, is that Goc is a much more replaceable asset than Bolland. Good 2 way centers that excel at pk, with grit and scores at even a .5 clip are not very common in the nhl. In fact I challenge anyone to find an identical skill set, at his age, in free agency now.
And as someone else mentioned, 2 million overpayment with 69 million cap, and going up, is a drop in the bucket, if he stays healthy. And I'm not saying that it's not a risk, it is a tremendous risk, but Tallon isolated the type of player he needed and payed what he had to, thanks to the maple leafs driving up the price.
Anod
Registered User
Um, how is reaching a personal best in points by 4 points over his career best high expectations, when he is just entering the prime age of his career? Over his career he has averaged just over .5, which is 40 points over an 80 game season. If he is healthy, I know big if, he should easily reach 40-45, with added responsibility and ice time in Florida, and breaking his career high 47 is definitely achievable, and IMO, he could potentially hit 60 which would be excellent considering he likely won't get much pp time. ( Or maybe he will get more pp time in Florida, who knows)
Great8Cam
Registered User
- Nov 2, 2008
- 2,546
- 1,506
Who cares how much Bolland is being paid by someone other than anyone on this board. It is not a situation where the signing of Bolland to an inflated contract has prevented the Panthers from signing any player that is better.
Face it, we are not a team and destination that any quality player and scorer, that is a UFA this year, wants to be a part of.
You can ***** and moan until the cows come home and it will not change a thing. Dale overpaid for a bunch of players and that eventually got us back into the playoffs. Dale did not overpay anyone last year and look where we finished.
We all get it - Dale paid too much in your opinion. So what. The same goes for any "hockey pundits" that say the same thing.
If you look around the contract is not the worst for this class of UFAs.
At this point, with what is in place, we might finish just out of the playoffs. I would think that dale knows that he will do what he can to add quality. But asking and receiving are 2 entirely different things, aren't they.
Can everyone give it a rest about how the contract is so bad, at least until Bolland actually proves it to be bad (eg Kuba and Jovo, etc.).
Peace and Love
Peace and Love
Face it, we are not a team and destination that any quality player and scorer, that is a UFA this year, wants to be a part of.
You can ***** and moan until the cows come home and it will not change a thing. Dale overpaid for a bunch of players and that eventually got us back into the playoffs. Dale did not overpay anyone last year and look where we finished.
We all get it - Dale paid too much in your opinion. So what. The same goes for any "hockey pundits" that say the same thing.
If you look around the contract is not the worst for this class of UFAs.
At this point, with what is in place, we might finish just out of the playoffs. I would think that dale knows that he will do what he can to add quality. But asking and receiving are 2 entirely different things, aren't they.
Can everyone give it a rest about how the contract is so bad, at least until Bolland actually proves it to be bad (eg Kuba and Jovo, etc.).
Peace and Love
Peace and Love
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Anod
Registered User
Exactly! I'm much more excited about the season, than I was this time last year!!✌
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Realistically speaking, we made the playoffs that year because the division was garbage.
We missed the playoffs last year because a lot of the players he (over)paid a couple of years ago were garbage.
Just because you have cap space doesn't mean you have to wildly spend it on players you don't even need.
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Anod
Registered User
I believe he actually wildly spent on players of need. Each signing had specific needs. Bolland=depth scoring/pk specialist. Jussi=veteran goal scoring winger, Mitchell=veteran defense, McKenzie=4th line grinder, Montoya=quality backup goalie, Thornton=enforcer
Don't mean to be nit picky about it but they were all needs. Not disputing the wildly spending part of your statement.
Anod
Registered User
Of course Dale could have spent less money on players he didn't want to fill those roles, but then people would complain how cheap ownership is.
adam graves
Panther 20 yr sth
We do need an established Center so kids can develop appropriately.
We did overpay and I don't give a damn since we aren't anywhere near a ceiling compromising any further deals,
We have to stop this battered wife syndrome worried about spending blah blah blah. We are fans. Put a damn good roster on the ice. For once.
adam graves
Panther 20 yr sth
Bolland has 26 points in 58 games over the past 2 years. It's not as if we overpaid a great player. We overpaid for something we already had. There were many experienced 3rd line centers available who didn't have as much risk attached to them if Dale was really interested in one.
A lot of people seem to be justifying this contract the same way they justified Jovo's contract years ago. There's really no justifying it -- it's a bad contract. Hopefully we get the best case scenario and he becomes an overpaid, yet good 3rd line center for us. By all accounts, we can't even count on the guy to stay healthy because he's been injury prone his whole career.
Dale Tallon better hope this works out because next year should be a prove it or lose it year for him. If this team doesn't make the playoffs next year, I hope we have a new GM next offseason. This is 100% Dale Tallon's team -- no more excuses.
GrumpyKelly
Registered User
We definitely don't have a player like Bolland on the team. He is a pest who can play against other teams' top lines and contribute. Plus has the experience.
JP Mick
...
ucanthanzalthetruth
#CatsAreCooked
- Jul 13, 2013
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I honestly just dislike the term. I don't think anyone would care if it was just 2 years. For people saying we overpayed, we're never going to be near the cap.
JP Mick
...
Were $14 million from the cap with 5 RFAs still to sign. That cap isn't as far away as people seem to think.
JP Mick
...
3 years would have been perfect but who knows, maybe he'll stay healthy and we will be glad to have him for 5. Stranger things have happened.
Cats2TheCup
Registered User
Even though it was overpayment, we're better to have him than not. Such is the price of free agency. It's an upgrade over the third liners we had last year and balances out the youth on the top two lines with experience on the bottom two between him and MacKenzie. The money couldn't have returned us a better player, otherwise it would have. I think our best chance of getting a top winger would have been through trading the #1 pick at the draft (assuming we aren't ever trading "untouchables" ) , because top wingers don't wanna sign here in FA for good reason. Besides, Bolland is not going to ruin our season, he's going to help us.
ucanthanzalthetruth
#CatsAreCooked
- Jul 13, 2013
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The Panthers are 15 million away from the ceiling and all the players that need to be resigned are really inexpensive minus Kulikov. There should still be 5 million left minimum after they're signed. We're not close to the cap.
His injury history is a little overblown too. I mean he got his achilles cut, talk about fluke injury, that shouldn't happen again.
Bolland can also score goals and isn't afraid to shoot the puck (Marcel Goc). People can bring up the 28 points thing -- yeah he got injured, however, he pro-rated 28 goals for this past season if he would have kept up the pace. Would he have? I highly doubt it, but I hardly think it's a stretch for Bolland to score 20, especially in Florida. The guy isn't afraid to shoot, and his shot really isn't all that bad, and it seems like he knows how to finish close-in, something that is completely lost on current Panther players. Actually, if you go back and pro-rate a few of his other seasons, he comes to 20g pace. The best thing we can hope for is for him to remain healthy. It's a big if, but it's possible. I really think Dave Bolland is quite a good player, and a substantial upgrade over Marcel Goc. Yes Marcel Goc was solid, in comparison to everybody else on the Panthers. I think Dave Bolland is a superior player offensively, and in grit and perhaps defensively, just not superior when it comes to faceoffs, which is a great skill Goc had.
Paying players based on their intangibles and character instead of their actual talent level is usually not a good idea. I believe that's already been proven here.
Honestly, I do not think that this is true.
I believe that Dave Bolland signed here because Dale Tallon believes that he is that valuable. Tallon has been overvaluing "character" and "intangibles" from the first day he got here. If you played for Tallon before and played a part in winning him a Cup, he automatically, perhaps irrationally loves you.
