Will miss both 72 and 9 very much.
72 - He was the backbone of this team for a long time. He was the likable outsider figuring out the language, being somewhat goalie-goofy without even trying, figuring out how to be a top-tier goalie, figuring out the conditioning/injury bug. And he accomplished all of that and more before he left. He didn't do it alone, but he was the biggest individual reason that the CBJ crawled from the depths of 2010-12 into a perennial playoff contender. Wish it had been Cup contender, but never got that far. I was saddened to see this past year play out the way it did as far as the relationship between CBJ organization and Bob; both Bob and management would probably like a do-over on some things that happened during the 2018-19 season. Until this season, there was never a question that Bob was the consummate teammate; he may still have been, no one knows exactly what happened in TB. I recognize that Bob would not have gotten $10M/season from the CBJ, that he was likely leaving regardless, but just the spirit of this past season had a cloud hanging at many times. I was thrilled Bob and the team had success, no matter how fleeting, in the playoffs this year. Made the departure a little easier to take, and the sweep of TBL made the clouds go away. I will miss him, the young goalies will miss him, his teammates will miss him (albeit they won't miss the clouds of this past season). Wishing him the best, and wishing there would have been a way to keep him here - there wasn't.
9 - He was by far the most dynamic forward in franchise history. I saw every one of Rick Nash's games in person - Panarin had more ability, more ways of making others better. Just too short of a run, wish he had stayed. As others have said, not as emotionally involved with Panarin, mostly because he just was not here long enough. But it sure was fun to watch him play, fun to watch him have fun. At times seems like he had been here 5 years, at other times like he'd been here only a year. We may soon be better up front as a team, but it will be hard to match the electricity in the building when Panarin had the puck. And who can forget his sachet down the hall to the locker room - that contributed to the fun on the ice and our fun in watching, even if irrelevant to the actual play on the ice.
And hoping that the departures of both find them both watching the CBJ hoist a cup while they are still playing.
