Wade Belak Clears, Remains with Panthers ... Big week for Panthers ... Nick Boynton out with concussion

Wade Belak's days with the Florida Panthers aren't over.

Belak cleared waivers today and is free to report back to the Panthers. Will talk to JM before today's game and see what's next.

Belak says he's "very happy" and hopes he gets to play out the rest of his contract here in FLA.

He also wanted to relay how much he was touched by the outpouring of support from the fans here. "I can't believe there was so much support from them,'' he said. When I told him the Panthers don't have a whole bunch of fans, but the ones they do have are extremely loyal, he added "I'm starting to realize that.''

-- Pete DeBoer says this is a huge week, one in which the Panthers have to turn their season around. No doubt. Panthers have eight points available between now and Sunday; chance to get things back in order. On them now.

-- Nick Boynton is out today; he also has a concussion. Likely suffered in his fight Friday in Boston.

-- Speaking of concussions, spoke with Cory Stillman today, says he's taking it day-by-day. Says he hasn't had any headaches lately and he's chomping at the bit wanting to play. But the team is being cautious.

Comments

[Laus723]

Hopefully he's back in a Panther sweater tonight and beats the snot outta Brookbank!

[Andy]

Wade, congrats to you. I wish the team can put me on waivers.

[Georgia Panther]

Regardless of what wade said, I expected belak to clear waivers. Multi-year contracts just don't get claimed in the salary-cap era NHL. The only Panther player who would get claimed, IMO, is Horton and even that is iffy because of the six year commitment. For a team to take on such a contract they would want to dump money on the Panthers in return.

[panthersfan]

Apparently 790theticket is reporting that JayBo is on the verge of being traded?

I do not know the validity of this report as I am not in Miami but is there any truth to this?

At this point, this team needs a hell of a shakeup because this is the worst this team has looked in YEARS and that is saying something.

[EJ]

I'm glad Wade is still with the team. He can play in place of the injured Boynton. Real bummer about Nick. He was playing so well for us.

[hoc]

GP, you're 100% wrong that Horton would be the only Panther that would get claimed. But these multi year contracts are undeserved and overpriced.

[hockeyd00d]

Hopefully 790 is correct. We need to trade Bouw now! No sense in risking him to injury any longer.

[Big Slap Shot Bob]

I am happy Belak wasn't picked up and from his quotes it sounded like he would be picked up. Since we can't score for our lives, at least we can beat the heck out of opponents in fights!

[Andy]

George,

Can you confirm a report from 790 the ticket about the post above? I have not heard that.

[Monts]

What else did 790 say?? Anything other than just hes on the verge of being dealt? I think everyone knows that already.

[grichards]

I have not heard that it's a done deal, but I have heard that JM is looking for a dance partner...maybe he found one...we'll see...

[Monts]

Thanks GR, I really hope this deal goes down soon. We need a shakeup ASAP and try to turn it around. Bouw is a hell of a player, but his value is only going down at this point.

[Andy]

thanks George for the quick response, Can you play center also?

[Big Slap Shot Bob]

You haven't heard it's a done deal - well, what is the POTENTIAL deal?!? ;-)

[matt abraham]

Hockeybuzz.com ( the least realitic rumour site out there) is reporting that the cats will send bouw to the leafs.... What the hell are leaf gonna offer. Jay is better than all this leaf's roster.... Please no blake or antropv or poni or anything from this garbage roster..... Trade with ottawa and bring one of there big three along with a couple of prospects or 20 goal scoreres.... we could really use a fisher...

[Stephen]

Trade bow to boston for phil kessell and a draft pick

[Nick]

Bo, Weiss For Carter, Giroux (or Parent)?

[Chris Wells]

Glad to hear Wade is staying. He has a specific role on this team and now that Boynton is out with a concussion we need him all the more.

Good luck Wade, show us what you are all about tonight!!!

[EJ]

I read something about JayBo to Ottawa in a trade involving Vermette, but that alone wouldn't be enough.

[Waita Minute]

The most prominent rumor is Bouwmeester to Ottawa for Vermette and Schubert. If they add Weiss to the deal, there simply isn't any one on the Sens worth taking - though that wouldn't stop Martin from trying to get Fisher too. Problem is that other than Heatley, Alfredsson and Spezza, there really isn't any one scoring at a better pace than the what the Panthers have now. In other words, a deal like that will add little. I also wouldn't count on Spezza coming here, unless they add Horton to the package.

But Martin loves Fisher and Vermette and that alone could be a big factor. Spezza is known to have had a bad relationship with Martin up in Ottawa. Gotta imagine he'd be pretty upset to be sent packing to a Jacques Martin run team.

[grichards]

spezza makes like $8 mil a year for the next 6/7 years...the panthers are not trading for spezza...

[Brian From CT]

Olesz getting 3.25 a year makes me sick.

Other than that I think most of the contracts are pretty decent.

My thoughts on Olesz are not good. I never liked the kid and I don't see any potential. I can't believe the contract he has. This guy has 5 points and is a minus player in 17 games. Those numbers make me want to throw up.

It's also sad that between 4 guys (Pelt/Zed/Dvorak/McLean) you get 18 points. Add Olesz and its 23 points between 5 players. That shows you the talent level here is VERY LOW.

[Stephen]

The problem is our cap room i doubt were gonna be able to get someone who is a big name scorer ala when we got bure. But my guess would be we get someone like a stillman type. Kinda wish we went after jarret stoll from edmonton and traded bouw for him. But he's obviously with the kings. As much as i wanna give martin the benefit i don't see us being excited for who we get for bouw.

[Brian From CT]

I see people putting Weiss in these trade talks. Are you guys kidding me?

One guy I would love to see traded is Horton. The guy is lazy and coasts half the time he's out there.

At least Weiss is a good two way player. He also is the reason why Booth is doing so well. What did Booth do when Weiss was out of the lineup? NOTHING.

I would trade Horton before Weiss any day of the week!

[Brian From CT]

Stephen,

you bring up a good point. When zed/mclean/dvorak were signed, I knew right then Cohen was being cheap and that this team wouldnt do well with that veteran core.

Players who were available that offseason ranged from Kayria/Blake/drury/gomez/sykora/etc.... Why didnt JM go after these guys? Scoring has been a problem for awhile. It was always Jokinen carrying this team. Before him it was Bure doing 50% of the teams scoring.

Money needs to be spent. Take Vokoun off the books and you have the luxury to do that!

[Brian From CT]

For Bouwmeester at best we might be able to get a 2nd line center and a 2nd line winger (to the standards of the panthers). < meaning having a zednik type on a top two line since they don't have the prospects or money to get anyone good.

[Bo]

I wouldn't trade Weiss or Horton. The only line Panthers have is Booth/Weiss/Horton that should be a no brainer to keep that line together. Horton being at center hurt his scoring, that was a bad idea from the start. Trade Boumeester and throw in Peltinen, Mclean and even Belak if you get some quality scoring back. There are no players in Toronto worth trading Boumeester for. Edmonton, Anaheim and Flyers have most to offer.

[Stephen]

If horton is soo bad why is he leading the team in scoring? I think everyone who bashes him are complete morons the guy is a stud. What can he do he plays with guys like mclean on his line i mean cmon and he's double shifting all game. I've seen a much better horton than i've seen in years past. Much more mature. The guy is not gonna be ovechkin or crosby he's gonna be a consistent player who gives you 30-40 goals a year there's nothing wrong with that

[Waita Minute]

I don't necessarily disagree George. Though, trading Bouwmeester, Horton and Weiss for Spezza, Vermette and Shubert results in the Panthers being not so far above their current salary total, and if you figure in the future cost that Bouwmeester would have represented had they been able to resign him, it might be a wash financially. I haven't looked at the actual numbers, but I don't think I am far off.

But the bigger point is that I don't see the Sens moving Spezza, nor do I think he's a guy Jacques is looking to pick up.

[season ticket holder since day one]

you have to remember the report just a couple of weeks ago that Martin is under orders to, make the playoffs, sign Bouwmeester (even though he can't negotiate with him until January 1) and cut 3 million.

The Belak move could have been part of that cut, otherwise why would you cut a popular player who is one of the few players that actually works.

Stephen the reason Horton leads this team in scoring is because they don't have any forwards other than Booth that works hard.

I don't look at a player's statistics as much as I look at the type of player he is. Horton is a lazy player who stays on the outside, you never see him in the slot, you never see him driving the net and you hardly ever see him take the body. (he did against Detroit after he was caught with his head down)

JM the GM is said to be trying to get a Center yet no one is interested in the garbage he wants to give up.

We need to build up the depth of this organization, (Rochester doesn't even compete in their games either) the best way is to obtain draft picks not trade them away (we had no first round pick in the deepest draft in history last year).

Whenever this organization makes a mistake they compound that mistake by overpaying to make up for that mistake.

Let's see if this team shows up tonight and plays hard, my guess is that it will be the same as usual (strong effort by 2-3 guys).

[jh]

as popeye said, i had all i can stanz and i can stanz no more...

[Steven]

Trade Jay Bouwmeester for Ryan Getzlaf

[Big Slap Shot Bob]

I think waita minute is dead on and I would be jumping for joy at that deal. I like Weiss, but he's still limited as a 3rd/2nd center. Horton needs someone like Spezza to boost his production b/c he cannot produce scoring chances on his own. He needs good setups for his nasty wrister. I just don't see Horton being the franchise player that Spezza is already. I would do that deal and never look back.

[Chuck]

GR - Have they brought up any D from AHL tonight??

If they did then they will sit Jay until the deal is done.

Awesome news re: Wade "Cowbell" Belak.

[Happy Girl]

GR - tell Wade I changed my facebook status to hope he stays in Florida. Joey never got my facebook status.

[hockeyd00d]

The only thing that can save this franchise is a player like Tavares. We will never acquire a top, maybe elite forward such as him.

We should clean house and go for a real rebuild. Unfortunately, with JM as GM, he'll probably pick Hedman :(

Also, JM should look into trading Vokoun, Bouw, Anderson, Boynton, Skrastins. As these are our only players with trade value.

[hockeyd00d]

Weiss goes on that list as well. We shouldn't trade Horton.