Panthers Agree to Terms with 9!

 Without having to worry about signing any big RFA's this year, GM Wilson went to work quick this week, re-upping nine of its players. All of the players signed short term deals, all of which were signed for less than a million per season. "It wasn't much of a hassle this year. We had quantity this year but we were confident that we wouldn't have to sweat over anything. Some of these guys are still keys in our future and some have a good opportunity at making next years team."

 The team locked up the following forwards; Jake Dowell to a 3 year $2.7 million dollar deal, Tom Wandell to a 2 year $1.5 million dollar deal, Cory Emmerton signed a $1.9 million dollar deal over 2 years and Darryl Boyce to a $1.3 million deal over 2 years. All 4 players will be fighting for a 4th line job come training camp.

 The Panthers also came to terms with of it's farm team players, signing Drew Bangall and Brian Connelly to 2 year deals. The team also signed a trio of forwards in Ryan Hamilton, Andrew Desjardins and Brett Sutter, all to 1 year deals. "We are happy to get all these players under contract. Drew (Bagnall) and Brian (Connelly) both add some good depth to our farm team D, but we see both having the potential to make an impact on the pro team in the near future and we will be closely watching their development. As for Ryan, Andrew, and Brett, all will have a chance to make our team, but this season is all an opportunity to prove themselves and that is why they received one year deals. If they can improve and show us why we need them over the next year, we'll definitely look to lock them up long term come next summer."

As for the teams remaining 12 free agents (6 RFA and 6 UFA), the team is standing pat on them for now. "We have denied sending out offers on 5 of our RFA's and expect them to become free agents, we do have another one though and we will see over the next few days if we want to pursue that player. As for our UFA's, there is a good chance we will wait till the last minute, but it wouldn't surprise me if we decide against re-signing any of our UFA's, but we will see what happens over the next few days."

 And as always, Dylan expects to be very busy for the draft. The Panthers hold the #5 pick as it stands now but the question remains if they will be using the pick. "We have received quite a few offers for the pick, and we still are not entirely sure what to do. We know who we are picking if we keep the pick, but we have gotten some very interesting offers. We still have no idea what we are doing right now, and it probably will come down till the last minute before we pick, if we decide to move it or not and as it stands now its probably 50/50 if we pick or not. Other than that, we have a lot of late round picks we are going to put to good use and we are also actively looking to pick up a late 2nd rounder. But it should be interesting."