Confirmed with Link: Panthers sign Rau to ELC

[iam76]

Hope Rau has a gallon of character

God my phone auto corrects again.. Enjoy it

 

[collegehockeyguy]

He was never really asked to kill penalties because he was on the top line and PP unit. He should be a pretty solid PK guy though, he works hard and is responsible in his own zone.

At the risk of coming across as a jackass, I'm gonna have to correct you here.. He played their PK all four years. He has all the qualities you want in a penalty killer, he just so happened to also have the talent of a first line/power play center so I can see where the assumption might be made that he didn't play penalty kill

 

[collegehockeyguy]

LW depth? Currently it's:

Huberdeau
Pirri
Jokinen
Upshall/Kopecky

Upshall and Kopecky will more than likely walk to UFA, Howden who was NHL ready (only reason why he got sent back down was the amount of 1-way contracts) is expected to make the jump for next year.

On the RW department, Thornton and Boyes are UFAs after next season, but Grimaldi is expected to replace Boyes. So I guess Rau could potentially see bottom6 duty in 2016-17, maybe even sooner if Hayes doesn't start contributing more regularly and wants too much $$.

Also Jokinen has a history of getting traded, so I wouldn't count on him staying here through the length of his contract (3 years left after this season).

Thanks! Rau can also play center.. He played center in high school and the last two years of college. I don't know if that helps him much in Florida but it can't hurt I suppose

 

[panthersfan94]

Thanks! Rau can also play center.. He played center in high school and the last two years of college. I don't know if that helps him much in Florida but it can't hurt I suppose

It can't hurt but more than likely he won't play center here, we're already converting some centers to wing

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

Hope Rau has a gallon of character

I giggled.

God my phone auto corrects again.. Enjoy it

I know I did. Thank you.

 

[57special]

Hope Rau has a gallon of character

He is the ultimate character player.

At the risk of coming across as a jackass, I'm gonna have to correct you here.. He played their PK all four years. He has all the qualities you want in a penalty killer, he just so happened to also have the talent of a first line/power play center so I can see where the assumption might be made that he didn't play penalty kill

Yup.

He's a good lead by example type, but he struggled with leading vocally when he got the "C" this year. I don't think that's really his style but I suppose it won't have to be in the NHL.

Ray never had a problem with speaking up in the past. Know a guy(s) who coached him.