OTTAWA -- The Rochester Americans said on Thursday that the club won't extend its current agreement with the Panthers past this season.
That doesn't mean the two have severed ties and Florida won't return. Basically, the Amerks told the Panthers it's OK to start dating other people. If it works out, cool. If not, hey, thanks for the memories.
The two franchises have been together three years.
“When we negotiated this agreement with Florida, it was agreed we would put a ‘re-negotiation date’ in it to ensure that both organizations had time to either investigate extending the terms of the agreement or provided sufficient time to explore other options,” said Rochester team president Lewis Staats.
“November 1, 2010 was the agreed upon date, and as of today, Rochester has informed Dale Tallon, general manager of the Florida Panthers, that we would not be renewing/extending the existing affiliation with Florida.
"We will explore all the options that are available to us in terms of an NHL parent club going forward at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season when our existing agreement with Florida expires. We are continuing to build and improve the Amerks from a business perspective and will be very diligent in our search for an NHL partner who we believe will help us achieve our goals both on and off the ice.”
According to Kevin Oklobzija of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, the Amerks have too much pride to just be a farm team for the Panthers; they want to have more control of the roster so they can try and make a serious run at the Calder Cup.
Of course, to do that, money must be spent. The Panthers want the Amerks to be successful on and off the ice, but they really don't want to bankroll it. They have enough problems at home.
To read all of Kevin's stuff, check out his blog here.
One possible landing point for the Panthers next year is Orlando. Nah, just kidding. But Cleveland might be nice. I would go and cover Lake Erie Monster playoff games no problem.
Can you just hear Dale Tallon now?
"The Florida Panthers are taking their talent to Lake Erie.''
or Yormark can do what he did last time when they left San Antonio just not have a minor league franchise and run on the cheap.
Actually, Orlando wouldn't be a bad idea except I would think Ft. Myers would be better if in Florida, in Orlando there would be no media coverage while in Ft. Myers they would be the only team in town.
Cleveland would be good as Tallon is a midwest type guy but it is not as easy to get to from South Florida.
Posted by: season ticket holder since day one | October 28, 2010 at 06:36 PM
God, GR... I took you for being smarter than this. The Amerks offered to pay for players this off-season and were stuck with your team's band of rejects...
This could have worked out to the benefit of both teams, but instead its turned to crap. Enjoy the Panthers in Florida for the 4 or so more years they are able to stay there, they are probably going to end up in Quebec... Its not like the 5 fans that watch the Panthers are going to notice.
Posted by: Charlie | October 28, 2010 at 09:26 PM
Quebec is very cold...I'm smart enough to know that...
Posted by: george richards | October 28, 2010 at 11:31 PM
Charlie I thought you were smarter too, but I see that I'm wrong. There might be 5 Panther fans in Rochester, however there are many more than 5 in sunrise.
Posted by: Jimmy | October 29, 2010 at 12:37 AM