Bouwmeester Rejects
July 26th, 2008 by Jason ChenThe Panthers haven’t tasted success since 1996 when they reached the finals, and drafting Jay Bouwmeester in 2002 was supposed to change all of that. The Panthers have been fortunate enough to have very talented players play for them, but they’ve never been able to quite keep them together. And the biggest reason why? They can’t win. For some reason, despite being in the weakest division in hockey, they have not finished higher than 3rd since last making the playoffs in 2000 (they were swept by the Devils in the first round). The finished 3rd in their division last year, but 4th for 5 straight years before that - you could say they’re consistent, but I don’t think it’s the type of consistency owners Alan Cohen and Bernie Kosar wanted.
The Miami Herald has reported that Bouwmeester very recently rejected a multi-year offer from the Panthers, and were willing to pay him as much as $6m/year. It’s good money, but given Bouwmeester’s talents he could fetch much more on the free agent market, although I hardly think that’s the main motivator. Instead, Bouwmeester will go through with the arbitration hearing, sign a one-year contract, and then be the subject of trade rumours all season long. Bouwmeester’s clearly frustrated by the lack of progress and direction this team is taking, after trading away Roberto Luongo and then adding Tomas Vokoun, then trading away Olli Jokinen but only adding Cory Stillman up front. Both are downgrades, leaving Stephen Weiss and Nathan Horton to shoulder the offensive load - and it’s not something to be proud of. No one wants to play for a loser, and Bouwmeester’s no different.
The only way the Panthers can convince Bouwmeester to stay is if they can reach the playoffs, but it’s an outside shot at best. Their lack of a 1st round pick this year hurt, but Keaton Ellerby and Michael Frolik have progressed nicely. Bouwmeester’s been under Jokinen and Luongo’s shadows, and perhaps he’s been a little complacent in a sidekick role, but I truly believe he has the talent to be the league’s best. His departure would set the Panthers another huge step back, and that’s something I don’t think the NHL or the Panthers need. Should he depart via trade, I imagine the Panthers’ brass would say something along the lines of getting “fair” returns, but that’s what they said when they dealt Jokinen too.
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One Response to “Bouwmeester Rejects”
By PeterS on Jul 28, 2008
You need to update this post - Bouwmeester accepted a 1 year agreement with Florida…it still points to a trade at some point since he didn’t seem to be interested in signing long-term.