Some Much Needed R&R 2014-03-23 Dylan has finally spoken publicly about his deadline, one that saw him trade away more than he got back. In the weeks leading up to the deadline, the team added veterans Mikhail Grabovski, Brenden Morrow and Jay Harrison. While he shockingly sent out top 6 winger Joffrey Lupul to the newly contending Dallas Stars. But he says in the end, the moves made helped the better of the team. “Dealing Lupes was tough, but we really had to evaluate the full picture here and we felt we had the depth this season to make the move. With Morrow now in the lineup, and wanting to get Benn on the wing on the top two lines, someone had to move considering we had seven top 9 wingers. Moving him was tough, but it was someone we probably had to move in the off-season anyways to help us solve what is becoming an ever complicated cap situation. Getting Despres was great, as it gave us a very good young D that is a lot closer to the pros than anyone else in our system. He will help out San Antonio this year and might get a shot as a bottom pairing next season depending on how the months go here. As for Tambellini who we also got, we were really high on him at draft day and to bring him in to the system is huge for us. And since this allowed us to move Benn back to the wing, we were able to bring back an old friend of ours in Grabo to centre that 3rd line.” One of the puzzle pieces that don’t seem to fit, is Jay Harrison. After being acquired it seemed like a defenseman was on the move in Florida. But that did not materialize and Harrison sits 7th on the depth chart…..or does he. “To be honest Jay was an insurance policy if we did happen to move out one of our defenseman. That didn’t happen but he will still serve a huge purpose going forward. Marc (Crawford) will be running seven D going forward, and with 12 games left, it allows us to rest some of our guys playing big minutes. In the two games since the deadline, we’ve been able to rest Pietrangelo and Yandle, cutting their minutes down to about 10 for a game. This will hopefully keep us well rested for the playoffs.” Speaking of rest, the Panthers have had plenty of it lately, right now in the middle of a whole week off. Something coach Marc Crawford sees as beneficial, “This week off has allowed us to rest, and really allowed us to begin to focus ourselves for the playoffs. We have a busy schedule coming up with 12 games in just over 3 weeks, and we plan to use that to not only secure the division, but also the conference and the President’s trophy.” SAN ANTONIO UPDATE: The Rampage in their first year under coach Glen Gulutzan is in a dogfight for a division crown. Coming off a 10-0 win, the team continues to be carried by the top line of Taylor Beck (AHL leading scorer), Tyler Toffoli and James Sheppard. The group there are also planning on trying to make a long run this year. “Beck has been completely dominant this year and that has really helped us. We did lose a few guys the past few weeks in Eaton and Hoffman, but Despres has filled in nicely and we feel like we got a good group here. We did have a scare a few weeks ago when our captain was claimed off waivers, but thankfully our GM was able to get him back. This will be a fun last run of the season, and the guys are ready for it,” commented coach Gulutzan.
