George Richards The Athletic Mailbag choice respones

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Obviously I can't post the entire discussion from The Athletic on here, but here are some interesting answers regarding our most debated subjects currently.

- Panthers prepared to spend to the cap in FA, providing it makes sense. If our targets sign elsewhere, then no sense in spending for the sake of it.

- Regarding Monty and the future: "I was told by scouts and some front office people in Feb that “forget Bob, our guy is in the AHL.’’ So, Monty has his supporters within the organization."

- Boog's job security: "Bob is going to get the benefit of the doubt and for all the distractors out there, if Florida had better goaltending, better defensive play, they would be in a better spot than they are now. Some of that falls on Bob (the D) but he couldn’t do anything about the goaltending in the first few months. We’ll see what happens. He is handling everything pretty well as far as I can tell."

- 3rd jersey next year not likely as far as George knows. He hasn't checked in a while.

- Regarding signing a goalie in FA: There are a lot of moving parts here. If they sign Bob on July 1, they will not have 4 goalies. Something will have already happened either with Lu retiring (I don’t think he is, but one never knows) or Reims being traded. Or, Lu retires and Reims is still traded. If you have Lu, he stays and backs up Bob with Montembeault going back to the AHL as the next man up. If Lu is gone, the team could still trade Reims (or keep him for another year at least) and decide what to do with Monty. I don’t think they see him going back to Springfield for another year as a demotion nor a problem. He would get a lot of starts down there and continue to grow.

There is more in the discussion, but I thought these were the most noteworthy.

Also, can a mod pick a better thread title? I suck at that. Kisses.

Click to read more...

 

[Clint]

I'm still somewhat hesitant to roll out the red carpet for a Montembeault coronation. I've only seen him play these last few games, and he's looked good in two out of three, but to push our chips all in on him next year is extraordinarily high risk and leaves us in a terrible position if he doesn't play up to the level we need. Looking at his stats he's never - in juniors nor in the AHL - hit that .910-ish save percentage that goalies need to really be relied upon to steal games these days.

Irrespective of his past missteps Tallon is in a strange bind when it comes to goaltending and this truly represents a fork in the road for our franchise. We're rolling the dice either way and I'm not envious of the position management is in this summer regarding the fate of our netminding.

In any case, although I still think we could have made the playoffs this year with a better defensive scheme, I'm not entirely surprised to hear that Boughner is coming back next year. Defense is played by the entire team in the modern NHL, not just defensemen, and to solely blame Ekblad and Yandle and Matheson and Pysyk isn't entirely fair - their lapses notwithstanding. Boughner has to take some responsibility and make mid-season and mid-game adjustments. I genuinely believe we're too talented a team to let the playoffs slip away again and we're wasting the primes of guys like Huberdeau and Barkov.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

LMAO imagine if we go next season with Monty and Lu. Jesus. There's not too much new here though, he just confirmed what we already know that no one has heard any talk of Lu retiring.

We also were already told that DT and Boog were coming back.

 

[Clint]

LMAO imagine if we go next season with Monty and Lu. Jesus. There's not too much new here though, he just confirmed what we already know that no one has heard any talk of Lu retiring.

We also were already told that DT and Boog were coming back.

Can we please not poop on GR or the Athletic for providing at least some investigative journalism into the Panthers? It's something we're sorely lacking from other outlets even if it's just "confirming what we already know." Let's try to be a grateful for what little ink we do get.

 

[RogerRoger]

- Regarding Monty and the future: "I was told by scouts and some front office people in Feb that “forget Bob, our guy is in the AHL.’’ So, Monty has his supporters within the organization."

And they didn't bring him up sooner? f*** this stupid team sometimes.

 

[letsgrowcactus]

I'm still somewhat hesitant to roll out the red carpet for a Montembeault coronation. I've only seen him play these last few games, and he's looked good in two out of three, but to push our chips all in on him next year is extraordinarily high risk and leaves us in a terrible position if he doesn't play up to the level we need. Looking at his stats he's never - in juniors nor in the AHL - hit that .910-ish save percentage that goalies need to really be relied upon to steal games these days.

Again the problem with Monty is and has always been his inconsistency. He can totally steal games and look absolutely amazing (I think he even had a pretty great run in the playoffs in juniors) but then he also has these stretches where he's pretty awful. Which is why it would have been great to see him called up in December to get a better look at him - right now, I'm sorry but no matter how excellent he plays the remaining games, it's great to see a glimpse of his upside but doesn't really tell us anything about how much we can rely on him over the course of a full season.

 

[ShootIt]

Again the problem with Monty is and has always been his inconsistency. He can totally steal games and look absolutely amazing (I think he even had a pretty great run in the playoffs in juniors) but then he also has these stretches where he's pretty awful. Which is why it would have been great to see him called up in December to get a better look at him - right now, I'm sorry but no matter how excellent he plays the remaining games, it's great to see a glimpse of his upside but doesn't really tell us anything about how much we can rely on him over the course of a full season.

So, he could be Reimer 2.0?

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

Capuano has to take some responsibility

Fixed.

 

[harv33173]

Again the problem with Monty is and has always been his inconsistency. He can totally steal games and look absolutely amazing (I think he even had a pretty great run in the playoffswho is supposed to be nhl ready in juniors) but then he also has these stretches where he's pretty awful. Which is why it would have been great to see him called up in December to get a better look at him - right now, I'm sorry but no matter how excellent he plays the remaining games, it's great to see a glimpse of his upside but doesn't really tell us anything about how much we can rely on him over the course of a full season.

monty and lu are good and i heard we signed finn a goalie at the junior championship. a who is supposed to be nhl ready and supposedly their top goalie prospect. he has currently been playing i believe in the khl and signed and committed to us for next year. he should shure up our goalie problems. anyone have info on him?

 

[BeezKnees]

Montembeault playing lights out for the rest of the season is absolutely an important factor in whether we should sign Bobrovsky.

No, that doesn’t mean we should go into next season with Monty as our starter. But if Montembeault continues to play well, I think it’s a sign he’s going to be ready sooner than we think, like say another year or 2. If we think that’s the case, then we need to find another goalie to stopgap as a starter. Rather than 7 years of an aging Bobrovsky with a massive cap hit.

Edit: Btw, my opinion is that we should try to sign Bobrovsky. What I’m saying is, if Monty keeps showing us he can play at the NHL level, we need to consider other options too.

 

[KW]

Can we please not poop on GR or the Athletic for providing at least some investigative journalism into the Panthers? It's something we're sorely lacking from other outlets even if it's just "confirming what we already know." Let's try to be a grateful for what little ink we do get.

I didn’t “know” that Boog was a sure bet to come back. I get it, but I hope there’s little rope.

 

[PSLguy]

Montembeault playing lights out for the rest of the season is absolutely an important factor in whether we should sign Bobrovsky.

No, that doesn’t mean we should go into next season with Monty as our starter. But if Montembeault continues to play well, I think it’s a sign he’s going to be ready sooner than we think, like say another year or 2. If we think that’s the case, then we need to find another goalie to stopgap as a starter. Rather than 7 years of an aging Bobrovsky with a massive cap hit.

Edit: Btw, my opinion is that we should try to sign Bobrovsky. What I’m saying is, if Monty keeps showing us he can play at the NHL level, we need to consider other options too.

Tomorrow night against San Jose should be a good test for Monty. They are a high flying aggressive team so seeing how he fares against them should be interesting.

They are in first place in the West and are on a six game win streak.

 

[GermanPanther]

There is one Point i dont understand at all. In the first argument you speak about forget Bob Monty is the future, three Arguments later there is a Argument that we go after Bob and then we reitry Lou and trade Reimer.
Overall means this to me nothing is near a Argument to discuss. With bringing up different, three or 4 different Way it could go, you or they cant bring up in the next Point a diffferent Point.

There is only one Chance it is or not.
1. The Truth is we dont go after Bob then, we most likely go on with Lou as Back-up. Reimer situation in this fact is likely gets traded.
2. The Truth is we go after Bob, then we back him most likely up with Monty and pass on Lou and Reimer.
3. Last possibly chance nothing of that happens overall, and Monty stays in AHL and Lou and Reimer continueing in the Net.

When that if and could and most likely is enough to create a discussion, the creater must stay in one or another fact. Not with all.

 

[letsgrowcactus]

So, he could be Reimer 2.0?

IDK? He’s still pretty young and developing at 22, and honestly, I don’t watch enough of Springfield and I know too little about goalie scouting and development to make that call. His "bad stretches" in the AHL this year tend to overlap with Hutchinson's, which would suggest that at least some of the blame falls on the team rather than the goalie. Then again this trend of "brilliant stretches-bad stretches" has been typical for Monty even in juniors...
I wouldn't worry about it too much (yet) as long as we don't pencil him into some big role in the NHL next year (like backup to a career 1B or one of our current goalies).

 

[BeezKnees]

Regarding Tippett- GR says the Panthers purposely didn't give him a fair look to make the team out of camp this year because of the timing with Seattle and expansion draft (plus we just had too many forwards). Said he has a good shot of making the NHL roster next year and some in the org are already penciling him in.

 

[drktmplr12]

Can we please not poop on GR or the Athletic for providing at least some investigative journalism into the Panthers? It's something we're sorely lacking from other outlets even if it's just "confirming what we already know." Let's try to be a grateful for what little ink we do get.

gonna highlight this. drives me crazy how i get local news about marlins training camp before it even starts over barkov's and huberdeau's amazing play this year.

i truly and greatly appreciate any reporting of someone regularly in contact with the organization.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Dale cannot afford another expansion draft disaster.

 

[KW]

Dale cannot afford another expansion draft disaster.

Jinxed it

 

[RogerRoger]

So, he could be Reimer 2.0?

Reimer was consistent before getting his concussion, after that he wasn't the same imo.

 

[Bure1096]

Dale cannot afford another expansion draft disaster.

Can we not delve into this again.

 

[Gentle Man]

I'm going to need a Seattle Barkov jersey.

 

[EnforceTheLaus]

I can’t emphasize the madness of spending to the cap with a dollar store coach. They want a Ferrari and than slap some $25 used tires on it and then be perplexed as it winds up on its roof.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

I can’t emphasize the madness of spending to the cap with a dollar store coach. They want a Ferrari and than slap some $25 used tires on it and then be perplexed as it winds up on its roof.

How many extra goals or saves Trotz behind the bench would count for?

 

[Chaos2k7]

Can we not delve into this again.

Cant escape reality by not addressing issues.

For Dale's sake I am hoping he has even the next few months planned to the T.

 

[Chaos2k7]

I can’t emphasize the madness of spending to the cap with a dollar store coach. They want a Ferrari and than slap some $25 used tires on it and then be perplexed as it winds up on its roof.

I like BB, I liked GG, but just take a look at the Habs and Julien, the Habs had zero expectations before the season, but Claude is able to get everyone on the same page and maximize his/their talents.

If there is a coach that is a "better" fit to be able forcibly take this team to the next level, every avenue must be explored. I dont thik BB is an issue per se, but an established guy that the kids would have to shut up and respect would go along way IMO.

They have to start winning, so buckle up for all sorts of possibilites. Dale is desperate.