Savard's Job to Lose?

Old pal Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun threw out another rumor related to the Panthers coaching search, offering up Pittsburgh assistant Andre Savard. This isn't out of left field either, folks. I heard his name offered up a few weeks ago in conversations with someone within the organization. That person basically told me "look at guys who have been close to Jacques.''

Andre Savard has been close to Jacques.

As coach of the Quebec Nordiques, Savard hired Martin as his assistant coach when Martin was relieved of his first coaching job with the St. Louis Blues in 1988. Savard also worked in Ottawa as a scout and was an assistant coach under JM with the Sens.

Are they pals? Don't know. Would guess the two have kept close ties over the years as Savard has definitely been around.

A former player, Savard was general manager of the Canadiens earlier this decade, and has been an assistant coach with the Pens the past two seasons. The Pens are doing pretty well. JM may be waiting for this Pittsburgh season to end before he really begins the coaching search.

Savard spent 12 seasons in the NHL, splitting time with Boston, Buffalo and Quebec. He retired in 1985 after scoring 211 goals in close to 800 career games.

Is Savard the favorite right now? I'm not jumping through that hoop. But, I would think he's one of the top candidates because of his past with Jacques and because of the good work he's done with Pitt.

Talking Baseball

Doing a live baseball blog over on Fish Bytes for those interested in stopping by...

JM with Goldie

Steve Goldstein had JM the GM on his radio show Saturday morning, talking about signing the prospects ("we'll have it done by June 1") to what he's looking for in a new coach.

Goldie also presses JM on whether he plans to trade Olli Jokinen this offseason. While JM didn't give him anything new, he was a little more staunch than he's been in the past.

"Right now, Olli is at the World Championships, but he's no different than any other player,'' JM said. "As a general manager, you're mandated to try and improve your hockey club. I don't think after missing the playoffs for seven years, we don't have any untouchables.''

Kind of repeating what Alan Cohen said earlier this offseason, that he couldn't "protect players anymore.''

Could get interesting.

If you want to hear the whole interview Goldie did on 790 The Ticket click here: It's two parts..
Download JMwithGoldie1.mp3
Download jmwithgoldie2.mp3

End of the Mess?

Looks like things are finally being worked out in Rochester. A little late on this, but Tuesday, the American Hockey League approved Canadian Curt Styres as majority owner of the Rochester Americans, all but paving the way for the Panthers to become that team's sole parent next season.

Steve Donner, who had been fighting with investors, keeps 40 percent of the team. Styres effectively buys out the other partners and says "I will do what I can to make sure the franchise is a success — at the box office and in the standings.'' That comes from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, check out Kevin O's story right here.

Don't have anything more to add that Kevin didn't cover or has covered in the past. This is a complicated deal, with defaults on loans and arena lease agreements and whatnot. But I know the Panthers were concerned something wasn't going to get done, and it appears their worries have been put to rest.

The Panthers have been making moves to improve their depth in the minors, and Keaton Ellerby is one of those guys. He could have played another year at juniors, but JM thinks he's ready for the AHL now and he's going to -- unless he really wows the Panthers at training camp -- start the season with the Americans.

Rochester is a good hockey town and they'll support this team if they think there is something there worth supporting. Obviously the franchise was a mess, and it's hard to separate the off-ice stuff in a minor league sports town. Having someone solid in there and have the Panthers be a true partner in trying to clean up the mess can only help solidify things there.

Another Pink Slip

For the second time in three days, an NHL coach has lost his job. Unlike Toronto's Paul Maurice, however, at least Colorado's Joel Quenneville got his team to the playoffs a few times before getting axed.

The Avs fired Quenneville after three seasons on Friday, just a week after Colorado got run from the Western Conference semifinals by the Red Wings.

Do you think Joel Q gets a look-see here in Florida? Well, you might want to know that he and Jacques Martin were assistants together in Quebec and Colorado, JM leaving the Avs midway through the 1995-96 season (Colorado's first season in Denver and its first Cup title team) to take over in Ottawa.

Perhaps JM was being patient for a reason. I'm throwing Joel Q on the short (yet growing by the day) list of coaching candidates for the South Florida Hockey Team.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Moving Down the Street

Up in the nation's capital this weekend, covering the Panthers-Capitals.

OK, Marlins-Nationals.

Going to spend some time offering prose and analysis up the street on our Marlins web-extra site, cleverly nicknamed "Fish Bytes."

This is only temporary, and if anything hockey pops up, it'll be offered up here.

But come on over this weekend and say hello. You can find Fish Bytes right here

Ellerby Signs

The Panthers came to terms with prospect - and former first round pick - Keaton Ellerby today. Ellerby, a big d-man, will compete @ training camp, but is likely to start next season at Rochester.

Traveling to Washington, so more later. Perhaps.

Paul Maurice Fired

Paul Maurice was fired by the Maple Leafs today after Toronto failed to make the playoffs in two seasons under his watch.

Maurice, who coached Carolina to the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, replaced Pat Quinn behind the Toronto bench. Since I have Quinn as an unofficial candidate for the Panthers' vacant job, should Maurice be put on that list as well?

Maurice obviously knows something about the Southeast Division, and he knows about coaching under pressure (something he wouldn't have to employ if he were to coach down here).

Go ahead and throw your vote down, and as always, give me your true feelings on the comments section down below.

-- The original "Who Should Coach" poll is still ongoing, so take a gander at some of the candidates there. Going to update, dropping the lowest vote getters and adding some new ones. Right now, Denis Potvin is running away with the vote, taking in 26 percent. Aside from the Dancing Banana (18.7 percent), Randy Cunneyworth (19.4) and Doug MacLean (10.4) are the leaders.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

It's Finals Time

The NHL has come out with the starting times for the upcoming conference finals, and I have to admit I am very surprised with the Philadelphia Flyers. I didn't think they had it in 'em to go up to Montreal and handle the Habs the way they did.

Good for them.

That said, I'm still picking the Penguins (not that they really care).

Here is the complete schedule for the upcoming games...

SERIES M                       TIME (ET)    #2 Pittsburgh vs. #6 Philadelphia        Networks
Friday, May 9  7:30 p.m.        Philadelphia at Pittsburgh       VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO
Sunday, May 11 7:30 p.m.     Philadelphia at Pittsburgh       VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO
Tuesday, May 13 7:30 p.m.    Pittsburgh at Philadelphia       VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO
Thursday, May 15 7:30 p.m.   Pittsburgh at Philadelphia       VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO
*Sunday, May 18 3 p.m.         Philadelphia at Pittsburgh        NBC, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO
*Tuesday, May 20 7:30 p.m.  Pittsburgh at Philadelphia       VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO
*Thursday, May 22 7:30 p.m. Philadelphia at Pittsburgh        VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO

SERIES N                        TIME (ET)        #1 Detroit vs. #5 Dallas        Networks
Thursday, May 8 7:30 p.m.      Dallas at Detroit                     VERSUS, TSN, RDS, NHL RADIO
Saturday, May 10 7 p.m.        Dallas at Detroit                       VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO
Monday, May 12 8 p.m.          Detroit at Dallas                     VERSUS, TSN, RDS, NHL RADIO
Wednesday, May 14  8 p.m.    Detroit at Dallas                       VERSUS, TSN, RDS, NHL RADIO
*Saturday, May 17 1:30 p.m.   Dallas at Detroit                       NBC, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO
*Monday, May 19   8 p.m.       Detroit at Dallas                     VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO
*Wednesday, May 21 7:30     Dallas at Detroit                       VERSUS, CBC, RDS, NHL RADIO

Belak's Back for More Cowbell

The Panthers have announced that enforcer Wade Belak has signed a two-year deal and will not become a free agent. Belak had offseason shoulder surgery and is currently rehabbing up in Canada.

He told me and Brian Y today that he's expected to be fine and dandy come training camp.

This is a good, solid move by the Panthers, locking up a guy who's role on the team is a lot more important than his role on the stat sheet. Belak doesn't score a whole lot, but he does carry a lot of weight both on the ice and in the room.

One thing I liked about Wade last year was how he noticed how much pressure Olli Jokinen was carrying around at the end of the season and tried to alleviate some of that by joking around with Olli on the ice, kind of messing with him to loosen him up, break up some of the tension. I don't know too many other players who would have not only recognized the pressure Olli was under, but try to do something to lessen it. Don't know if it worked, but at least the dude gave it a shot.

As I've said a number of times, I don't think the Panthers are going to be able to bring back Steve Montador, so I would think Belak would get some more minutes than he did last year.

Says Belak: "I think the players there respect me and appreciate what I do. If I can make room for the guys who can score, to where they don't have to worry about the intimidation factor, well, I've done my job.''

Regarding his shoulder surgery, Belak says he had a partially torn labrum and had been playing in pain for over a year. Says it got to the point where it affected his off-ice work. He adds he'll be good come August, plenty of time for training camp when it kicks off in September.

"It got to the point where I couldn't work the way I wanted to,'' he said. "It would flare up and that would be enough. They say the rehab is four to six months, but it's feeling real good so I'm looking at the four month side of things. I'm confident it'll be fine.''

-- The Panthers also signed center Kamil Kreps to a two-year deal today and that's a nice reward for a fine rookie season. Kreps had a very underrated 2007-08 campaign.

-- Also, David Booth scored for Team USA last night as Americans topple Slovenia 5-1 at Worlds...

-- Also, team came to terms with 23-year-old Luke Beaverson, who just finished his senior season at Alaska-Anchorage. I would have guessed a hockey player with the name Beaverson would have played at Oregon State, although I'm not sure they even have a team.

Anyway, The Beaver scored a goal with two assists in 30 games for the Seawolves. A native of St. Paul, Beaverson was captain of the team and JM says he's a "big, strong and durable defenseman who will continue to develop at the professional level.'' The Panthers drafted Beaverson in the seventh round of the 2004 draft.

-- Also, FSN will air its Panthers wrap-up show (one they probably could have broadcast on March 28, the day after they lost to the Thrashers at home) on May 10 at 11 a.m. Lots of good stuff from Denis, Goldie, Craig, Frank and the rest of the crew I'm sure.