Florida Panthers with George Richards

Scott and George Richards are talking all things Florida Panthers. #NHL #floridapanthers #hockey #billzito #paulmaurice #sergeibobrovsky #presidentstrophy #housemoney #floridahockeynow #sashabarkov #miamiherald #salarycap #spencerknight #aaronekblad #andrewbrunette #matttkacuk #lionelmessi #daletallon #barrytrotz #joelquenneville

Episode Transcript

(00:20):
Happy Monday. Everybody in. Myname is Scott Morgan Roth from the South
Florida Tribune, and I am pleasedto be joined by Florida Hockey Now's George
Richards, a long time colleague ofmine, and George, thank you very
much and I'm looking forward to doingsome panther talk tonight. Sounds good,
Scott, how are you doing tonight? Well, I'm doing really good things.
I've actually just completed a book thatI'm working on, and I'll give

(00:43):
you more information as the one thatgets released, But this one's going to
have a lot to do with oldschool versus new school media, and I
think a lot of people that endup going out there and reading it.
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(01:07):
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(01:32):
dot selfworda tribune dot com. Allright, George, once again in a
long time coming, but I'm gladwe're doing this now here in August because
now that I know everybody's had anopportunity to settle in a little bit,
people can be talking hockey pretty soon. Yeah, I mean we're in the
middle of August. It's the deadperiod. But five weeks, six weeks,

(01:53):
you know, training camp will getgoing. We'll at rookie camp coming
up in Coral Springs and then trainingcamp and before you know it, we'll
have our preseason doubleheader Panthers in Nashvillefrom the the Arena and Sunrise. So
yeah, I mean, it's summertime. It doesn't you know, it's as
hot as it can be out there. But we'll get we'll get her going.

(02:15):
It's pretty soon enough, all right. So, George, you've been
covering the Panthers, okay for twentyyears, but I want to ask you
tell me a little bit about FloridaHockey Now. Well, uh, Florida
Hockey Now dot com is a sitethat I got going in twenty twenty during

(02:36):
the pandemic um I was laid offby the Athletic. I was covering the
Panthers for three seasons with the Athletic, and then the pandemic came and they
shut down their South Florida operations,and so I decided, you know,
I stole out all these Panthers storiesto tell, why not tell them online?
So yeah, the Florida Hockey Nowdot com we cover the Panthers every

(02:59):
day. We got a thing onSasha Barkov tomorrow. So even during the
dead times, we're covering the Panthers. We've got story on them every single
day. So check it out FloridaHockey Now dot com. Well, you
know what, you know, Iam world why but you know I'm Detroit
or buy hard. So we actuallyhave a guy who chiming in from Detroit

(03:19):
from kneecap bying with Detroit Lions.That's good evening do us? So look
at that? You know what canI tell you? He's chiming in there?
Obviously respects of Red Links and thePanthers a little bit, but where
wherever we could get them? Howis that sound? Okay? Hey,
anytime we got some folks from Detroitcoming in, that's great. Yeah.
Well, also, now that webring that up, don't you have another

(03:42):
Is it a franchise up there calledDetroit Hockey Now as well? Yeah?
Yeah, well, I mean FloridaHockey Now is part of the National Hockey
Now. There's twenty twenty different locationsor sites. Um in Detroit Hockey Now
is one of them. So wehaven't gotten to all thirty whatever may teams.
It is now thirty two two tamesin the National Hockey League, but
we're getting there. So yeah,Detroit's one of them. Um, a

(04:04):
lot of good Detroit Red Wing coverage. Who's who's Kevin Allen if you remember
him from USA today, So BobDuff, those guys are running Detroit Hockey
Now doing a heck of a job. So if you're a fan of the
Red Wings or you know any hockeycheck it out National Hockey Now. And

(04:25):
you know, obviously we'ren't here inFlorida, but um, you know,
chances are we're covering your team We'vegot Philly, Colorado, San Jose,
Los Angeles, Nashville, Buffalo.I'm not gonna keep going, but it's
a bunch of them, or wegot the time even if you want.
Hey, you know what, whenyou're a solo show like we are tonight,

(04:46):
George, as far as I'm concerned, you could go out there and
spend as long as you want.That's are good. They'll check it out.
But yeah, no, a lotof a lot of good hockey coverage
in Again, I mean, thisis the dead period, and it's tough,
you know, um, especially forteams that didn't make the playoffs,
right, I mean their season's beenover since April. I mean it seemed

(05:08):
and I've had those listen. LikeI said, I started covering the Panthers
in two thousand and three. Therehave been a lot of bad years with
the Panthers, a lot of longsummers usually those years, and now those
years haven't been lately. But Iwas working at the Miami Herald covering the
team then. So they just say, go cover the Marlins, go cover
the Dolphins, do something, dosomething else. But when you're a hockey

(05:30):
beat writer and your team's knocked outin April or after Game eighty two.
Boy, that's a long offseason.You know, hockey has a long off
season. So you know, forplaces like Detroit and Buffalo, teams that
you know had a decent year butdidn't make the playoffs, these off seasons
can be very, very long.I can only imagine. All right,

(05:50):
So George, let's talk about thejob Bill Zito has done. Okay,
tell me, how would you assessthe performance in Bill Zito. It's been
transformative. He took over in twentytwenty, not long after we started Florida
Hockey. Now a couple months after, because we we covered the Panthers.

(06:12):
They remember if the pandemic they had, that bubble, that playoff bubble.
Panthers get knocked out by the NewYork Islanders in the in the qualification round,
and the Panthers fire Dale Talon.They move on from Dale Talon,
so they hire They hire Bill Zeroin September twenty twenty. Within two weeks,

(06:34):
he's already traded Mike Matheson for PatrickHornquist. Then free agency comes.
He signs Radco Goodas, he signsCarter Verhegy, he signs Anthony Declare,
He drafts Anton Londel. This isall within a month, six weeks of
being hired. And you look atthe organization since that time, there's only

(06:57):
three players left on it, andfour if you count at to Loose de
Ryan and who wasn't who wasn't partof that twenty two He was there but
he didn't play. You've got SergeyLebrovsky, Sascher Barkov, Aaron Eckblad and
at to Loose do Ran and thoseare the only players left from that twenty
twenty team that was not that longago. So he has totally turned over.

(07:18):
Spencer Knight was d was the lastplayer, the last first round pick
by Dale Tallon. But he's totallyturned this organization upside down. He's rebuilt
the roster um and he's traded hisown guys now so um and and the
results speak for themselves. The twentytwenty one COVID year, they end up

(07:41):
finishing second in the Atlantic. Thisyear number two, they end up winning
the Atlantic. They end up winningthe President's Trophy. They win their first
playoff round since nineteen ninety six.They lose in the second round to Tampa,
which creates more changes, and thenyou had this year where they slip
in the playoffs and then make itall the way to the Stanley Cup final.

(08:03):
And you look ahead the Panthers.All their top guys are signed for
at least the next couple of years. So the best, the best years
of the Panthers might be ahead.Will they make it back to the Stanley
Cup Final? I don't know.I mean it's you're a hockey guy.
You know how tough it is tomake it to the Stanley Cup. It
just doesn't happen all the time.But this team could be better and not

(08:28):
make it, you know what Imean. I mean, they may not
make it as far as they did, but they might be a better.
Um, we'll see, But thebest years are ahead of this team.
Yeah, I'm gonna go each andover the point that you mentioned in more
details. So I guess the thingI've noticed about Bill Zito to me is
I'm gonna if John Wooden was calledthe Wizard of Westwood, We're gonna call
Bill Zito the Wizard of Sunrise becauseof all the moves this guy has made.

(08:52):
You know, it's not like he'sthe most complacent individual out there.
He's not. I mean, thisguy's afraid to take a short term deal,
long him deal. And again we'regonna get into the Keith Chuck Jonathan
Hohoberg deal a little bit later.YEA. Yeah, but you know this
guy, there's no panic in anythinghe's doing. He's willing to take a
win now situation, a rental ifhe has to. And you want to

(09:13):
talk about the bold nature of BillZito, you know, I know I've
watched being from the Detroit area,Ken Holland make these kinds of moves too.
But I think that Bill Zito whenI compare him and Holland, Holland
was fine, but he had theresources of Mike Killich. Bill Zito has
a much different situation where he hasto get creative with the ownership that he

(09:35):
does, and I think that's whatmakes him even so much better. I'm
not knocking Ken Holland, but youknow where I'm going from. Well people
may not know this, but Vinivolais a multi billionaire. So no,
I mean the Panthers lose money,Yes, I get you where you're thinking,
right, The owner of the Panthersdoesn't care if they make money.
That's the difference, kind of likethe Elch is if the Detroit Tigers aren't

(09:56):
making money. They don't care.They're still putting money into it because they've
got it, and the ownership inFlorida got it. So they felt like,
and we're going just going back tothe ownership thing. They just felt
like they could be in the middleof attendance and of revenue. They're they're
fine, and that's where they're atright now. So which wasn't the case

(10:18):
when they bought the team. Itwasn't the case five years ago. But
you know, listen Bill zero andwith the salary cap, I mean you
you remember the the the great RedWings teams of the nineties. There was
no salary cap. So you hadDetroit, you had Toronto, you had
the New York Rangers spending out spendingeverybody two to three to one. You

(10:39):
don't have that. Now you've gota salary cap. And that's kind of
even the playing field. So that'swhy you're looking at Original six teams that
are going through rebuilds, where you'vegot the Tampa Bays, the Anaheim you
know, some of these newer SunBelt teams taken off because the field is
even. Yeah, that's funny.You mentioned that the Montreal Canadians having snipped

(11:03):
the Stanley Cup in ages. TheToronto maple least have a won a Stanley
Cup, I believe since nineteen fiftyfive, right right, right, all
right, sixty seven. But butyeah, points, yeah, yeah,
it's so it's a very even playingfield in the National Hockey League. Um
where you know, this is abad example this year, but you've got

(11:26):
a guy and you know, uhuh counter Badard, right, you know,
he's a transformative player. I mean, and any team could have had
him. He could have gone toColumbus, he could have he ends up
in Chicago, bad example, buthe could have gone to Arizona. He
could you know, he's in afive thousand seat college arena. He could

(11:48):
have gone to you know, anyof these other ends up. Okay,
but they won. They won,fair and square. They got the big
pone balls in their yard. Well, let's flip the numbers. Okay,
sixty seven was fifty five years ago. So you know, if you're looking
for a fourth ticket lottery number,and George Richards and I are gonna say
sixty seven fifty five. If youwin, neither of us want to know

(12:09):
about it. Otherwise we're gonna bepulling our air out. And again,
what's the difference, Karen sixty sevenfifty five. There's your four digit here
in the state of Florida. Thereyou go. All right, let's talk
about the Panthers President's Trophy. You'vewe talked a little bit about under Andrew
Burnette. Tough circumstances that Burnette had, hood deal. What do you think
he ever had a chance to getthe full time jobs? And the follow

(12:31):
up is are you happy that hegot the Nashville gig? Yes? And
yes, I don't think that AndrewBurnett had had the Panthers. I think
gone, you know, played betterin that second round series against Tampa Bay.
I think Andrew Burnette would have hada pretty good chance of keeping the
Panther job full time. But andthis is no knock on Andrew Burnette.

(12:56):
He was he had only been behindthe benches an assistant coach for a couple
of years, much less being atan interim head coach, and that inexperience
showed. And there were some grumblingswithin the organization. I heard from past
players who's who basically thought that theygot out coached. They felt like the
Panthers did not adjust in round oneagainst the Washington Capitals and just we're better

(13:20):
than Washington and completely got out coachedagainst Tampa Bay in that four game sweep
and and told Bill Zito that inexit interviews, and that's why he decided
to make a change. Plus thefact that he was looking if if he
didn't if if there was not agood fit for the Panthers, Andrew Burnett

(13:41):
may have kept that job. Butwhen he talked to Paul Maurice, he
liked it. You know, theyhad a great conversation Paul Maurice. I
know a lot of fans didn't likeit, but when I heard that Paul
Maurice was interested in the Panthers,I was like, well, he's the
guy, right, I mean,he's the guy you're going to higher.
Paul Maurice, he's been around twentyyou know, twenty five years of coaching.

(14:01):
He coached the Hartford Whalers. That'show long he's been coaching. And
he's still fifty two fifty three yearsold. It was just a deal where
the Panthers wanted experience. They didnot want to go through another playoff where
you had a veteran guy behind thebench getting out coaching you're your young guys.
So they felt like Paul Maurice hasseen everything. He wasn't going to

(14:24):
get out coached. And you sawthat payoff this playoff because palm ree knew
what was going on. Paul Mauricepushed all the right buttons in the playoffs,
So that point paid off. Toyour second point, yes, I'm
very happy that Andrew Brunette's getting anopportunity with the Nashville Predators Barry Trots as
the new general manager. There.They know each other. Andrew Burnett played

(14:48):
for Barry Trots with the original Hewas an original member of the Nashville Predators.
And this will be a great opportunityfor Andrew Brenette to put his stand
up on a team that barely madethe playoffs last year. There aren't a
whole lot of expectations on Nashville.They're a borderline playoff team yea or you

(15:09):
know, it could go either way. He's going to have an opportunity to
to to really to to to todevelop himself as a coach. And let's
not forget he left the Panthers whenthe Panthers hired Paul Maurice, he went
to New Jersey, He got ayear to coach under you know the coach,
Lindy Ruff. You know Lindy Ruff. He got a year of experience

(15:31):
coaching under Lindy Ruff. And Iknow in the in his mind he was
paying attention knowing that he was goingto be a head coach moving forward.
That's another thing he coached under JoelQuinnville. I don't I think Andrew Burnette
was totally comfortable just coaching under JoelQuinnville. He didn't expect to be being
a head coach next year or muchless in October of twenty twenty one.

(15:54):
Um, that all happened so fast. I think it kind of did catch
him by surprise. This did notso he was paneled. He was paying
I think more attention to the tothe to the small little things that that
Lindy Ruff did. It's going toreally help him in Nashville. So so,
George, this is a great segueto what you just said, So

(16:14):
I'll go over it again. Wetalk about the coaching change for Paul Maurice.
You told me at a Marlins gamethat the Panthers record would not be
as good as the President's Cup Trophyseason. Then again that exactly a year
anyways. But but Bill actually bea playoff team, and boy, you
nailed a bull's eye with that.And the reason why I say that is

(16:36):
what you just reitercte and because hehad a good track record in the playoffs
to begin with. So if there'sanybody that hasn't I told you so moment
that could brag, it's you,because you nailed it. With Paul Maurice,
let's face it. You know hadgood years at the Carolina Panthers.
I believe he took him to aCup final only I think the two Yeah,
that really broke my heart. No, hardly not. They were actually

(17:00):
calling that the hockey Town versus OpenVision, and you know, I got
to go back to my roots alittle bit here to George Budget. It
was pretty good. But yeah,you know, while they did get an
experience guy, and evidently that's whatit sounds like it took for the Panthers
to be able to walk right in. We're not gonna talk about the fact
that they got in the way theydid. We're just gonna Paul Mareice at
the moment. So well, thething I told you was something that was

(17:25):
relayed to me in a conversation Ihad a day or two after Paul Maurice
got hired. We talked a littlebit about his experience, and he talked
about Andrew Burnett. He said,listen, we're not gonna be as good
as we were last year. Youknow that. I know that. It's
just how it is. Nobody's gonnamatch that one hundred and twenty two points.

(17:47):
He goes, people are going toone one hundred and twenty three next
year and that ain't gonna happen.He didn't think it was gonna be as
tight as it was, but hewas like, let's just get to the
playoffs. We'll worry about the restwhen it comes. That was another concern
with the Panthers. They weren't surethat the Panthers knew they needed to change
their style of play to be asuccessful playoff team. And if they kept

(18:08):
Andrew Burnett and he would have changedYeah, he would have changed everything.
But the first time that team losesthree four games in a row, there
may have been panic and you changeeverything and let's just go back to what
works. It doesn't matter. Let'sjust win some games and we'll get back
on track. Palmurice never did that. And the Panthers knew he would.

(18:29):
The Panthers knew he would stick tothe plan because he's been there, he's
done that. What are you gonnado? Fire me? He doesn't care,
So he was going to stick tothe plan. And luckily for them,
they make the playoffs. Because listen, with a week before, a
week before the season ends, itwas no assurances that they were going to
make the playoffs, but they did. And now I think that's how the

(18:53):
Panthers have to are looking at things. We don't care about the Atlantic,
we don't care about the presidents.Just tell us where we're playing. That's
how Tampa Bay Tree Hockey, TampaBay just tell us where we're at.
Oh, we're in Toronto for roundone. We'll see you there. That
they don't care about anything else.That's how Florida's dealing with it. Just

(19:14):
tells tell us, tell us wherewe're gonna play. And that's that's the
way you gotta be when you're atthis point. You know, teams like
Buffalo, Detroit, Ottawa, theyjust want to make the playoffs. Two
Florida, you have to assume,you have to have that expectation that you're
a playoff team, and three,four or five years ago that wasn't the
case. Here, you were justare the Panthers play I don't now.

(19:36):
The expectation is you're a playoff teamand we'll go from there. And that's
a that's a big step forward forthe Panthers. So all right, let's
talk about the twenty twenty the twentytwenty two twenty three season overall. What
were your observations? Now I knowfull well that they made the trade for
Matt Kinschuck, I believe we're Jonathanhuberdo and give me the other guy in
turn, mckensey. Yeah, that'swhat I thought. Okay, well,

(20:00):
what are your initial thoughts about whenthat trade was Maybe he also had Sergey
Obrowski coming in back as well,and of course they had higher expectations for
Spencer Night, which then unfortunately cometo fruition. Yeah, not that he's
out of the picture by any means, but now it's a game changer that
once again the Wizard of Sunrise.Okay, we was able to roll the
dice and he rolled him very verybig. Yeah. Yeah. Last year

(20:23):
was obviously a different, different setup. I mean, listen, a lot
of people got emotional with the wholeMatthew could Chuck trade Jonathan Huberdo, a
fan favorite, franchise leader, andeverything everything that John Sasha Barkrob doesn't own,
Jonathan Huberdo owns. So he'd beenhere since two th eleven when he

(20:47):
was the number three overall pick.People loved him, but he had the
Panthers painted in a corner. Whenit came to a contract. He was
duing extension. He wanted it,he wanted a max deal, and at
thirty one years old, I don'tthink that the Panthers were in that big
of a hurry to give it tohim, and I don't think they were
going to give it to him.You fast forward to mid June, mid

(21:11):
July, and Matthew Kuldchuck out ofnowhere, is now on the market.
He's available. He'll only go toa handful of place as Florida's one of
them, and Bill Zito saw thatas an opportunity a not only to get
a player of Matthew could Chuck's caliber, because Matthew Kuldchuck is one of the
top five ten players in the entireleague, but he also found a way

(21:34):
to solve his Jonathan huberdout problem andthat was straight Huber though, and that's
what they did. And I don'tthink a lot of fans understood that.
As much as you love Jonathan Huberdoughin two three four years, he's going
to be thirty four, thirty fiveyears old. Do you really want him

(21:55):
making ten million dollars a year?I don't think you do. You got
you got Matthew could Chuck. He'sin the prime of his years. This
is the best weird, It's onlygoing to get better for Matthew could Chuck.
You think Matthew could Chuck was goodin Calgary way, do you see
what he does here? He's goingto become an absolute superstar. Jonathan Huberto's

(22:15):
best years, God love him,might be behind him now. He's going
to have a bounce back year thisyear he is, and he'll be good
next year he is, but hisbest years are behind him. Matthew could
Chucks are in front of him.That's why the Panthers made the trade.
That's why the Panthers are paying himthe money. And listen, I said
it at the time, if ifif Calgary can sign Jonathan and or one

(22:38):
of them, if if they couldget Huberto or Weaker to sign. It's
a win win trade because the Panthersgot what they wanted. Calgary ends up
signing both of them. They gotboth of both Huberto and Mackenzie Weaker to
sign long term deals. They bothgot contracts they would not have gotten with
the Panthers, So God bless him. Um, it's to work out fine

(23:00):
for Calgary. Matthew Kitchuck wasn't stayingthere now. They got two players.
Those those contracts won't look very goodin four or five years, but for
right now, they've got two verygood players in Mackenzie Weaker and Jonathan Broo.
Yeah. So when you talk aboutthe twenty twenty two twenty three season,
here's a team that obviously may sitto the playoffs during the last few

(23:26):
days of the year. So theywere, in my opinion, playing playoff
hockey all year just to get tothe point where they were battle tested is
what they were. George, Youknow, you know I don't nowadays.
I don't get to as many gamesas much as I used to anywhere because
I have let me tell you whereI'm at right now, as not only
am I the publisher of the Tribune, but I've recently taken a position as

(23:49):
President of Broadcasting for Media Studios theEGLO Communication Department. We're building a broadcasting
division from scratch and I'll have alot of responsibilities developing you know, podcasters
and all that. So I don'thave as much time to get on the
road as I like to. Don'tget me wrong. Everybody likes to go
out and be in the box sure, So it's not like I don't want

(24:11):
to go. It's just my responsibilitiesto reach the point where it's just tough
because I don't have dependable people underme that I trust to do the job
that every organization that depends on expectme to do. I don't want to
hear any backlash later. So butwhat I think doesn't mean I watch what's
going on, though obviously I havethe ability, you know, to get
the releases when they communications part doesa great job center to me. And

(24:34):
of course I don't watch games.But I think my point is is this,
okay, when you have a teamthat's really playing, you know,
playoff hockey all year just to getin, you know, and they make
these changes the coaching staff and theyhave a lot of guys that are actually
going out there and performing well.I think in a couple of career years.

(24:56):
Give me a couple of guys thatyou had bigger years outside of mac
Chuck. I know their names areoff the top of my head. But
unfortunately Overheggie had a big year.Verheggie had a big year. Um,
you had a nice year from Buddhistwho's no longer here. Um, uh
Riinhardt played well, Sam Bennett,you know, Parkov was Barkov. You

(25:18):
know he had some he had somedowntimes. But well, what you say
is something that the Panthers talked about. They they say that they've been playing
play and I don't know if Ieven buy this. They say they've been
buying playing hot playoff hockey since January, right, But they knew if they
lost a game in Pittsburgh or whatever, it wasn't gonna end their season.
And that's always in the back ofyour head. But when they when they

(25:41):
got going, when they started playingwell in March, Yeah, those games
had weight on him because they werelooking at those staying, hey we're five,
six, seven points out of theplayoffs. Um, and they knew,
you know, hey, we gotfifteen games left. We gotta go
twelve twelve and three. Basically theyknew that and that did carry into the

(26:03):
playoffs. Even though you know they'redown three one to the Boston Bruins,
they did play pretty good hockey inthose first three games of the Bruins series.
Yeah, you know what. Amazinglyenough, this Matt Could Shuck trade
reminds me a little bit about whatwe're seeing George the summer with Lionel Messi
going to enter Miami. Now,obviously, is it on that level,
I don't know. I'm not goingto even venture that it is. But

(26:26):
for the Florida Panthers, when youget a marquee talent in his prime doing
what he does, and you knowyou can keep him for a while,
Lionel Messi to me, don't takeit the wrong way. It's probably a
two or three year fix if hestays healthy. Whereas, on the other
hand, Matt could Chuck to me, has more guts than any player I've
ever seen, and I've seen alot of good players in my days covering

(26:48):
the league, being in and aroundit from the last thirty some odd years.
But define to our audience what yourthoughts are of Matt could Chuck and
what he brings, not only shortterm to this team, but with the
Panther fans have to look forward tolong term. Going full well that we
have Alexander Barkoff as certainly the faceof the franchise, I wouldn't be surprised
to see a couple of names retire. We already saw Roberto lawandos get His

(27:11):
retired. Barkoff is probably inevitable,and if the Chuck stays along, I
wouldn't be surprised to see his nameup there either. Yeah, I agree
with that, not not the messything. I don't agree with the messy
I mean Messi's thirty six years old, rum or whatever. He is.
He's the best player in soccer,and now he's playing double a soccer basically,
you know what I mean, it'sshowing. I mean the level of

(27:33):
competition that he's playing against in theMLS is not even close to what he's
used to. That's why he's dominating. That's why he's scoring two goals a
game. He wasn't doing that playingin Europe. He's doing that here because
it's it's not good to soccer.I'm not even a soccer guy, and
I know that's not good. Sucker, Well, you know what then,
George, you know what that means. I disagree with myself too, because
you're calling it double a soccer.Okay, it's not the it's not it's

(27:57):
not the big leagues. It's majorby name, but it's not big league
soccer. And everybody knows that hecame here, he would only go to
Miami. But he's a he's agigantic superstar. I'm not I'm not questioning
Messi. He's the best player maybeto ever play. I mean, you
know, you've got Lea, You'vegot Mered, You've got Messi. He's
the best, there's no doubt aboutit. But he's playing, you know,

(28:19):
when the MLS and and he's goingto make a lot of money doing
it. Yeah, that's it.He's a much bigger star than Matthew Kutchuck.
But he's a munch bigger star thanworldwide than Michael Jordan's. So,
I mean in the South Florida pantheon, I mean, you've got two of
You've got Jimmy Butler, right,Jazz Chisholm and and and kut Chuck and

(28:42):
Messi's in this whole different planet.I mean, you know, that's a
whole different world. Um but MatthewKulchuck is part of that man and and
and you say that, Sasha Barker, and I agree with you. Barkov
is the captain. He is theface of the Panthers. Um but Chuck,
after what he did in the playoffs, he was the guy that was

(29:03):
being invited to talk to Charles Barkley. He has become kind of the face
of the team because he's gregarious,he's open, he's fun loving. Barkov's
very quiet. He's not your rahrah Robin Barkoff never would have scored the
winning goal and pointed to the exitsand say come on, let's go to
the bus. Barkof never would havedone that. Katchuck did. And people

(29:26):
love it. I mean people loveit. I mean it's like it's like
pro wrestling with Katchuck. I mean, he's he's a he's a terrific player,
but he's got showmanship. Barkov doesn'thave that. And they're two different
guys when it comes to that.But yeah, I mean, kat Chuck
is only gonna get better, man, He's only gonna get better. Well,
Yo, it's amazingly enough. Whenthe Panthers had a little rush stretched

(29:48):
during I think the spring and Katchuckwas angry. He didn't come here to
lose. If that doesn't tell youwhat kind of like character he is,
I don't know, but I'm gonnago back to a long time Detroit reference.
I don't know how many people rememberthis name. Maybe you might huh
no, no, no, Nowthis is if you're really a hockey guy.

(30:08):
Though, a guy by the nameof Dennis Polani. Have you ever
heard of him? No? Yeah, this guy here was a young guy.
Or maybe Dino Crelli does that onejob get a little bit. I
think Juno Ccerelli, to me,reminds me a lot of Matthew could Chuck.
Okay, because of the fact thatthey're they're scrappy guys and data and

(30:30):
they are winners. Now, nobodywill know anything about Dennis Blondish except the
guy like me. The only thingI can tell you about Dennis blonde and
George is he led the team inpenalty minutes and he got in more scraps
than anybody on the planet. Okay, Now, why am I bring him
up? He's a ficy young guy. I like these ficty guys, man,
I really do. But Dino Ccerelli. If you're a hockey fan,

(30:52):
to me, reminds me of ManthewGood, Chuck and George. You're free
to use my Dino Cicerelli thing onany shows you go on. All you
need to do is just google DinoCcerelli and then let me know. I
know, do you know? Yeah? I mean it's a Hall of Famer.
I mean, yeah, Panthers.Don't forget Dino Ccerelli was the first
first Florida Panther in the Hall ofFame. Really, I know that he

(31:18):
played part of the seasons here atthe end of his career. But but
here's the thing with Katchuck. Itjust like cicerell That's what they call him
the Unicorn, right, because Katchuckis never gonna go quiet. He might
have zero goals, zero points,but you knew he was playing, right,
You knew he played that game.That was another thing with with Jonathan
Huberto. If Jonathan Huberto didn't score, you didn't know he was on the

(31:41):
ice. And that's not the casewhen it comes to Matthew Kachuck. Now,
most games he's gonna have at leastan assist, but he's gonna drive
the net, he's gonna he's gonnatick off one of the defensemen around the
goalie. He's gonna do something.Um that did his part of the game.
And that's what the Panthers really likeabout him. But but he's extremely
skilled, he's got terrific hands,he's got he's got a terrific net presidents,

(32:05):
he's gonna score, he's got two, he's got back to back hundred
point seasons, and he's he's theguy that he's an instigator too. So
the Panthers just love his style ofplay. Well, I mean, who
wouldn't, I mean, think aboutthe guy is a rough player. He
has a rugged sign where he scoresgoals. I mean, you know,

(32:27):
you've talked about an all around hockeyplayer, Max, and Chuck is unquestionably
one of those that are. Obviouslywhat we've described here validates that. So
all right, George, let's goto the playoffs. R We talked about
the Florida Panthers being heavy underdogs ofthe Boston Bruins. Now, mind you
the Panthers with the Florida the President'sCup Trophy winner, and now you have
the Boston Bruins. So God onlyknows what we really think of the President's

(32:47):
Cup Trophy. I'm gonna ask youthat question, what do you think of
the president It's called tropy? Anddo you think it's an overrated curse?
Yeah? I mean because teams havewon, they've won the President's Up and
they've won and yeah, but Idon't think anybody's done it since the Blackhawks
and thirteen or fourteen or the lastPresident's Trophy winners to to win it.

(33:09):
But but but the President's Trophy likewhen the Panthers wanted a couple of years
ago. Um, it wasn't likethey were trying to win it. It
was just there. I mean,why, yeah, you're playing Philadelphia on
a Tuesday night, you might aswell win the game, right, I
mean, win the game. Andthen you know, Thursday night you got
Montreal, you might as well winthe game. And they just kept those

(33:30):
last two weeks. He just keptwinning games. And it wasn't like they
were gunning for it. It justwas there. They had a six point
lead on Toronto and it was eitherlose five in a row and let somebody
else have it or just win it. So um, and then they didn't
to your earlier point about they weren'tsharp though going into the playoffs because they

(33:52):
cruised into the playoffs. Rum therewas no um, you could have a
bad night and be like yeah whatever, And they couldn't have that this year,
and and it and it kind ofchanged had they had a whole different
attitude going into this year's playoffs.But um, I do think there is

(34:13):
something about and we see it inbaseball, don't we. We see these
teams that have a twenty game leadand they cruise into the playoffs. You
know, sometimes they're pitching just isn'tall that sharp and they end up losing,
you know, before the championship series. It's it's like that in any
sport. I mean even football.Um, you see these fourteen and two

(34:35):
teams in the NFL and then theygot to you know, they get the
bye week and they haven't really playeda meaningful game in two months, and
they don't look right. They're stillthe best team, they just don't look
right. Um Yeah, that's reallyall it is. I think it is
as far as a curse goes.But we always said, we always said
that you never see and an eightseed beat a number one seed in the

(34:59):
basketball, But you see it allthe time in hockey, hockey playing.
Now that's not true anymore because theHeat just beat the Milwaukee Bucks the eight
one. But you always see thatin hockey. You always see the seventh
seed beat at two seed or sixthree. You know, you always see
those upsets early. So hockey isjust a different animal when it comes to

(35:21):
the playoffs, and you know,and you just get in, baby,
Just get in. It doesn't matterif you're the eighth seed, the seventh
seed, and it doesn't matter ifyou're the one seed or the two seed.
Just get in because home ice doesn'treally matter. Just get in.
And that's what you know. ThePanthers are just it's not like the Panthers
proved it. They're just another ona long list of teams that got in

(35:43):
and did something. You know,during that series against Boston, everybody thought
Boston would steamroll the Panthers. Surea dead let's sake, surreality, they
were playing great hockey and they brokeevery single regular season record on the planet,
which you know, to me remindsme of the New England Patriots going
undefeat it until the Super Bowl,because that's where I feel like there's a
distinct connection between the two. Butnow you have a Panthers team playing against

(36:07):
a heavily favorite Bruins. So I'vegot to ask you, George, do
you feel that the Florida Panthers areplaying on the house money? I do
to an extent, yes, becausethey were down three one in that series
to Boston and end up coming backand winning that game in overtime. Sergei

(36:28):
Bobrovski makes a big save on patrisebergeron on a breakaway in the final seconds
of the third, and then AaronEckland almost pushes the puck trying to clear
the puck away, almost knocks itinto an empty net if they If that
goal scores, the Panthers lose thatseries in five, and we're having a
completely different conversation about how this Panthersseason went. Right, then we're saying,

(36:52):
well, they just barely made theplayoffs. They shouldn't have been a
playoff team. Look, Boston beathim in five, they shouldn't have been
there. You know, we've gotsome result bias here because we saw them
come back. We saw them beattwo more teams and make it all the
way to the final. Listen,I think we're going to look back on

(37:14):
that season and say it was itwas a terrific season, but it wasn't
a terrific season. In January,it wasn't a terrific season. At Christmas
time, people were calling for theheads of the stall Brothers. People didn't
like Maurice. But this year's team, now I think has a little bit
you know, they're gonna get alittle rope. I mean, you know,

(37:37):
if this team starts off bad withthe injuries that they've got, I
think they're gonna be, you know, given a little latitude. Because now
now people are like, yeah,just make it. Do make the playoffs.
Don't worry about And that's something we'vealways said about the Heat because the
Heat of proven it year after year. Just get there, Miami Heat,
We don't care because the heat,Miami Heat has similar season to the Panthers.
The Miami Heat were frustrating this regularseason, but they were the Miami

(38:00):
Heat, so they were given alittle latitude. I think that moving forward,
maybe the Panthers are going to startgetting some of that from from the
public. Well, both of usobviously have been around a hockey business a
long time. So that'll lead meto my next question, and that's this
Okay, because that adage that goesout there that a hot goalie can carry

(38:20):
a team all the way to thetitle. And I'm going to tell you
right now, Sergey Barbrovsky rescued thePanthers with the Bruins and the experience of
Paul Maurice enabled him to follow hisexperience instinct to let him ride him all
the way to the Stanley Cup Final. Well, it's pretty hard for both
of us to disagree about a hotgoal turner because we've seen it nine million

(38:43):
times in this league. Any Yeah, you've seen guys like Kerry Price.
I mean, my goodness, well, carry Price is a bona fide Hall
of Famer, but you've seen noname goalies that you don't even nobody's ever
heard of coming in the playoffs andthe lead backstop a team to the conference.
Fine. Absolutely, you can ridea high goal And that's why NHL

(39:04):
general manager shy away from giving goaltenunless you know that guy's a bona fide
Hall of famer, You're not givingout the big bucks because you can just
find it's almost like rolling the dice. Who's our goal? Look at look
at look at Vegas. Look theguy who won the Stanley Cup for the
Vegas Golden Knights was not there.He was their number three goalie and he

(39:25):
wasn't their starter up until like midwaythrough the second round. So goalies are
weird, man and they just geton rolls, and yes, you can
ride a hot goalie because nobody inthe second round when they were down I
think two to one to the EdmontonOilers was talking about the Vegas Golden Knights

(39:45):
winning the Stanley Cup because they certainlydidn't look like and then Aiden Hill comes
in and starts, you know,looking unreal, and then he won some
wild shootouts. I think they hada six five game against Dallas and whatever
it was. But he was terrific, and he was terrific against Florida.
And he's not a, you know, a big name player. They got

(40:05):
him from the San Jose Sharks.I don't think many people in Vegas even
knew who he was when when whenthey acquired him, so well, amazingly
enough, a guy that stands outmy mind was a guy by the name
of Mike Vernon. True. Absolutely, he's a goaltender that really to me,
he's one of the most underrated goaltendersin NHL history. Another former Panther.

(40:27):
Yeah, oh that's true. Wellone is Dino Cis are really business
and Mike Vernon for all you Pantherhistorians, you're I guarantee, uh,
Dino Cister really, Mike Vernon isdefinitely worth a tune in, and George
are Lenon and I Atlanta. Solet's talk about the Stanley Cup Finals.
Prior to this appearance of Panthers hadnever won a game in the Stanley Cup

(40:50):
Finals. This year though they winthree rounds, so you get rid of
the postseason business, all right.They won four rounds in the past two
years, but now they finally wona Stanley Cup Finals game. Yeah,
at least that's one gorilla that theygot off their back. Wasn't a charge
that's for the deepest to get.Yeah, going five and the Stanley Cup
Finals as deep as this franchise hasever gone. Yeah, um, that

(41:15):
was a good win for them.And listen, they were this close to
Talie in Game four in Sunrise.Um, you know, and if if
Matthew Kulchuck doesn't you know, fractureas sternham um and can actually hold a
stick, maybe Florida wins Game fouras well. I don't. I'm not
saying Florida wins the series because itwas obvious that that that that Vegas was

(41:36):
the better team. Um, thenthe scorers kind of bear that out.
Um, but listen, you knowthey could have won two in that and
it could have gone to six.But but wait, that's what it is.
I think you know that this teamhad a very memorable postseason run.
I mean, you come back againstBoston, which is unbelievable, and you

(41:57):
got you figure, hey, they'reout of gas, they are out of
gas us and then they steam roll. They go up three nothing on Toronto,
and then they sweep Carolina after havinga four game, get a four
overtime game in game one, andthen they get attended ten date break.
You know that didn't help them,but you know, very interesting. It

(42:17):
was a heck of a heck ofa playoff for those for the Panthers.
All right, George, we're goingin the chat room, ready for a
little bit up, fire up action. Here I go, let's start looked
up boys, Mitch Weinstein, howare the bagels? George, always good,
always good. It's Stem's birthday.Yeah, yeah, I know,

(42:40):
I already said a load of Stem. All Right, we're good. Are
the Panthers gonna make anymore out there? I see it now, Mitch Hi,
Mitch um No, I don't.I mean minor moves. You know,
if the Panthers make any moves now, they'll be minor. I mean
we're already in August. The teamsup against the salary cap. Then maybe
they invite a couple of veteran guysto camp on PTOs, like they did
last year with Eric Stall. MaybeEric Stall is one of the guys they

(43:04):
invite. They've got a little bitof wiggle room on the salary cap.
But as far as the big trade, the big trade happened on Sunday.
That was Pittsburgh getting Eric Carlson fromthe San Jose Sharks and a three team
deal that the Panthers don't have thekind of cap space for that. So
you know that was never a dealthat Florida was interested in, right,

(43:25):
So yeah, I guess that wasmy next question before mentioned out, what
are your thoughts, Well, let'stalk about your thoughts about the Panthers offseason
moves this year. Okay, Ithink they filled some needs and this is
something that Bill Zito talked about.Everybody looked at the Panthers having ten million
dollars under the cap, but becausethey don't know when Aaron eck Glad and

(43:50):
Brandon Montor are going to be ableto play again, they had to fill
those players shoes at least initially.So it actually he took away from what
Florida could spend during the off seasonbecause they had to sign players that they
can fit in under the cap whenAaronic Bladd and Brandon Montur come back.
So I thought with under those constraints, the Panthers got deeper defensively. That

(44:17):
was one complaint I had all theyear last year that the Panthers weren't very
deep defensively marks but that was partthat was part of the Kachuck trade.
You traded away one of your topdefensemen in Mackenzie Wager, and then you
were cap strapped, so there reallywasn't anything they could do about it.
You did not expect Mark Stall toplay eighty two games plus every game in
the playoffs or what nineties something ninetysomething playoff games. You got Oliver Eckmund

(44:45):
Larson, who's had a miserable twoseasons in Vancouver, gets bought out.
I mean, what a check there. They are spending it. Vancouver is
spending a ton of money for himjust to get out of there. But
he's had injuries. He's had footinjuries. Maybe this long offseason in something
to prove he's playing for a contractthat could be good for him. So

(45:06):
we'll see Oliver Reckman Larson I thinkcould have a great bounce back. Mike
Riley a defenseman who got cap blockedin Boston. That's a good defensive mood.
Tomitri Kolakov has joined the Panthers again. We'll see what happens there.
He's a good depth piece. He'sthirty two years old. Now he's not
the player that he was, buthe's a good defensive defenseman. And they

(45:29):
bring in a guy to replace theRed kogutas leaves Miko Rottola I believe I
forget his name anyway. Nico NicoMkola comes over from the New York Rangers
as a free agent. They gavehim, I believe, a three year
deal and you know he's a defensivedefenseman. So the Panthers were able to

(45:52):
shore up their defense and they addedsome forward depth as well. Kevin Stenland
comes in. He's going to replaceEric Stall as the fourth line center.
He's, you know, twenty sevenyears old. He's got a little bit
of scoring punch, nothing like whatEric Stall had back in the day.
But if he can match Eric Stall'soffensive numbers, he's going to be able

(46:14):
to give you more minutes on thatfourth line and they should be okay there.
So would let's talk about some ofthe guys we'll call him subtractions.
Are there any of the subtractions thatyou think that the Panthers might miss the
most? Yeah, Red Ku Buddhists, yea, yeah, anytime you'll lose
a guy like that as popular ashe was, not only outside but inside

(46:34):
that locker room. He's a bighitter. I think his defensive play was
underrated, and it well really wasn'tunderrated when it comes to the hockey people,
because he got a lot of goodfinancial offers because he is a strong
defensive player, and other teams noticedthat and he had to take them money.
Florida couldn't offer him what other teamswere. Your Detroit Red Wings were

(46:55):
offering him a bundle. I thoughthe was going to Detroit for sure.
He ends up going to Anna timefor four million dollars a year. The
Panthers probably could have offered him twoand a half. You know, how
about two years at two and ahalf, two years at three million.
He couldn't do that. He's gota family to think of. This is
his last big contract. He hadto take it. The Panthers understand that,

(47:15):
but they they're they're they're trying toreplace him with some depth, not
having montourneck Blad initially because of theinjuries sustained for rec Blad during the season
and in the playoffs. Montour duringthe playoffs. Um, that'll that'll that'll
hurt him initially, and and andAnthony Declare forgot about him traded to the

(47:36):
San Jose Sharks. He'll definitely bemissed because he was a very popular part
of that Panther locker room. Anduh, you know, a guy that
you could slide up and down thelineup. He could play fourth line,
first line, you know, mostlytop six minutes. But um, if
you needed some stability down low,you could always throw du Claire down there.
He whatever you needed, he did. So they're definitely gonna miss the

(48:00):
versatility of Anthony Declare and the skill. I mean, he's a thirty gold
guy. A couple of years ago. So, George, describe what your
observations are about the Panthers recent draftclass. Hard to judge. The Panthers
don't have a whole lot of draftstock. Their first pick was in the

(48:20):
second round. It's a player thatyou know a lot of people had,
you know, some people had pickedas being a first round pick. He
drops all the way to the endof the second round. So we'll see.
Time will tell. Anytime you havea drought, less you're picking in
the top three or four, you'renot going to see these guys for years.
So and especially the Panthers were justreaching. They're trying to hit home

(48:42):
runs. They're trying to find guysin the fifth round that nobody else has
seen. There are a couple guysthat the Panthers picked that we couldn't even
find information of, much less aphoto of. Because they're trying to swing
for the fences. They're like,what the heck if we can get this
guy in the sixth round, whowe who are scouts, think nobody knows
about. And this guy could bethe next quarter for Hagie or something out

(49:06):
of no you know, you gottago for it. So they don't have
a whole lot of draft picks.So I think that what they've got they're
swinging at the fences. So we'llsee, I mean, we'll see.
I mean, like I said,I think that last guy they picked we
couldn't even find a picture of.But you know, we'll see how it
goes. It got amazing here weare in this information age. Okay,

(49:27):
we can't find nothing on us tobe you know, the old days in
the draft, he'd be looking throughthe book and you'd be like, oh,
okay, that's a Yeah, he'sranked number one eighty nine in north
you know, now you just pickit, you know, you look it
up. We couldn't find a pictureof the guy. I think you.
I think he was from Rush,from the khel. He's like an overage
guy who knows. But if theguy turns out, what do you there?

(49:49):
Great, you spend a seventh roundpick who cares? Yeah, you
know what they call those in aregular world. George called him hidden gems,
Yeah, hidden jam. If itdoesn't work, God, it doesn't
work out. Yeah, it wasseven round pick. Little we care?
Yeah, right, long as theywork out? Who cares? All right?
So sure, let's talk tell thefans of what your expectations are for
the twenty three twenty fourth season.Uh, just make the playoffs. Just

(50:12):
okay, don't worry about it.I mean, you know, look at
it like like I said, lookat it like Tampa Bay does. Look
at it like you know. Someof those teams out west, Colorado Avalanche,
they did, did the Colorado Avalancheever panic two years ago? They
were four or five points out ofthe playoffs in December, and they knew
they'd be fine. They end upwinning the Stanley Cup. Last year's same

(50:35):
thing. They're out of the playoffs. Everybody's like, oh, what's wrong
with Colorado? They end up makingthe playoffs with no problem. Just make
the playoffs. Just make the playoffs. I don't know how they're gonna do
on May you know, on Novembertenth against Philadelphia. Know what they're gonna
do in January against Columbus, doesn'tmatter. Just win your game, win
some games, make the playoffs,and then we'll see what happens. Get

(50:58):
everybody healthy. Maybe, you know, if they've got some some cap,
some some cap clearance by the tradedeadline, maybe they can be buyers at
the deadline. They don't have anydraft picks to deal that. So that
hurts them, but let's just seewhat happens. It should be fun.
So it sounds like for the timebeing, when you look at the Panthers

(51:20):
right now, it sounds like notlywhat trades, what they're gonna have to
depend on building this called mainly throughfree agency. Would you say, that's
what it sounds like to me whenyou lose a fair amount of draft capital.
But that also happens when you're agood team, right, I mean,
because even when you're let's say theTampa Bay Lightning and you're drafting thirty
eight, twenty ninth, thirtieth inthe first round, that's a second round

(51:44):
pick. That's still you may neversee that guy. Um. You know.
It's when you're really bad and youdon't have first round picks. That's
where it affects you because, ohmy gosh, we could have been picking
forth and we didn't have. Wetraded away our pick. You know that
that's happened. That's happened to manya time in hockey where a team is
just stunk, but they traded awaytheir their first round pick, and now

(52:06):
they don't have that to replenish.That's a problem. But the Florida Panthers.
What are you gonna be You're gonnabe picking twenty eight, twenty ninth,
thirtieth anyway, is that first roundpick becomes like a second round picks
up whatever? True? You know, Yeah, you bring up an interesting
point for a lot of those thatare non Florida people. You know,
we have the Tampa Bay Lightning inthe Florida Panthers. This made a pretty

(52:28):
good opportunity to see this rivalry developover the years, especially now that both
clubs have become a lot better.Yeah, it definitely has. And I
think that you saw the last coupleof years, twenty one and twenty two,
the Sunshine State Series getting you know, pretty heated. Tampa Bay won
the first round in twenty twenty one, beat Florida in the second round in

(52:49):
twenty two. Last year, itdidn't have the juice that it usually does,
but it was still a heated side. It's definitely for the first time
in our lives, the Panthers andLightning good at the same time. Usually
when you know, in the earlynineties, the late nineties, when Florida
was good, Tampa was terrible.When Tampa was good, you know,
in two thousand and four. Youknow, with the Tortorella eir the Panthers

(53:12):
stunk. Now they're both at playingat a high level at the same time.
It's good for hockey. I thinkit's good for hockey, not just
hockey and Florida. I think it'sgood for hockey when you can see two
teams from those non traditional markets havingthose kinds of series. It does draw
interests from outside the country because peopleare like, what's with the palm trees

(53:35):
and all that, and then yousee these guys just killing each other and
it's kind of fun. One lastthing I want to mention before we wrap
up this broadcast. Could you eversee Joel Quinville ever landing back in the
NHL, whether it's a coaching jobor anything like that. I know he's
had a time to think about whattranspired in Chicago. It's unfortunate that the
Panthers had to lose him because hewas starting to really turn this from franchise

(54:00):
around. All of a sudden,this unfortunate situation took place. But Joel
Quinville as a proven championship coach.Me personally, I think he could have
won a championship in Florida. Butwe'll never know, but its blueprint is
definitely all over this franchise, especiallyin the last couple of years. But
what do you think, do youthink he's gonna want Land so back in
the NHLU the first to go toQuinnville. Yeah, I mean that's one

(54:24):
thing. You know, the Panthers, a lot of people were talking about
the instability in coaching. That Merrygo round of coaches in Florida was supposed
to be over with Quinville. Hehad a six year deal. He was
supposed to coach the Panthers until heretired or until you know, he just
said, you know, okay,now we stink again. You know,
he wasn't supposed to leave like that. As far as him getting a job,

(54:46):
yeah, he's got to talk toCommissioner Gary Bettman. They got to
talk some things out. But yeah, I mean he'll get a job.
I mean there would be there'd bea couple of teams lined up. You
just saw what's his name, Babcockgo to the Columbus Blue Jackets. You
would think that Quinnville would be avery attractive hire for a team like Columbus.

(55:08):
That would have that would have beena big deal there. And there's
many teams like that, and we'llsee it does sound like Joel wants to
coach again. He's got some thingsto answer Tom. But asides from that,
you know, it will have beenthree years, So next summer maybe

(55:30):
we see something. Yeah. Youknow, like I said, I enjoyed
it my time, but one seasonI was able to cover the Panthers a
twenty twenty one season, but thenall of a sudden, my schedule got
out of control with everything that wasgoing on around me, from the business
side, the editorial side, andnow I'm I'm hoping one of these days
all the chance to get back there. Time will tell, depending on what's
going on here. But I'm reallyjust so delighted to be able to talk

(55:52):
about this franchise because you know,let's face it, you know, this
franchise has nearly never had the opportunityto get on national television a lot.
Do you think there was success likethis that they might eventually start seeing some
national television respect. Uh yeah,but I mean that doesn't I mean,
listen, I mean those things arenow are so so weird, right,

(56:16):
I mean, ESPN would rather putyou on ESPN plus the streaming than then
than on ABC. So listen.You know, when it comes to those
games on over the air TV,it's always going to be Pittsburgh and Boston
in New York because those just gettinga few people in that one town to
watch the games. Jack's the ratingsup. You're not gonna see the Panthers

(56:37):
very often, you know on ABNChannel ten ABC. You will see them
on ESPN and TNT, especially afterlast year's Now that they've got Kitchuck,
Yeah, I think you're going tosee them a lot more. The national
TV schedule hasn't come out yet,so I would bet that we've got the
Panthers on t NT, which iswhat I consider, you know, the

(56:58):
ESPN and TNT to be the nationalTV, not that ESPN the streaming stuff,
I don't, you know, thatdoesn't count as a national game.
But yeah, I've always seem fivesix seven times between t N, T
and ESPN. Yeah. Yeah,I've always thought that National TV has been
a little bit more biased or theoriginal six teams too, because obviously they

(57:19):
know where the history of the leagueis, and of course, you know,
I mean, let's face it,the original six is the original six
regardless of who they are. Butobviously there's a lot of parody in the
NHL, as we've seen over thelast for while, So let me go
with one more thing. You're justlike everybody know that Fire Florida is broadcast
around the world, not just SouthFlorida. Around the world. Panthers will
take note of it or getting yourbroadcast everywhere. So but that said,

(57:40):
the audio of the origin of theshow can be heard an iHeart Radio ever
heard it? I have Apple,Spotify, Google, wherever we get your
podcast. Please hit the red subscribebutton on YouTube South Florida Tribute. We're
striving for a thousand subscribers getting there. Plus also comment and I can share
the broadcast. Want to be aguest? Has some guest possibilities in the
chat room. George secretly seen someof them out there. Send topic ideas

(58:02):
selfwordat tribute at gmail dot com.If you want to advertise cost efficiently call
me in nine five four three orfour four nine for one, even though
George already has in his phone becausewe taxed a lot. Anyways, We've
cast live on Facebook, linked in, Twitter, and YouTube, our website
www dot self, Florida Tribute dotcom, Twitter at Tribute and South So
what that said, George, youknow, I'm glad we had a chance

(58:23):
to get you on. So whatI want you to do is let everybody
know how they can get a holdof you, and also give them an
option. It's how they can subscribeto Florida Hockey Now. Uh yeah,
just come on over to Florida HockeyNow dot com. Check out our stuff
again. We cover the Panthers everysingle day, even during the uh the
dead months like August. Thank goodness, we didn't have a very long offseason

(58:45):
this year. They have been alongin the past, but this year wasn't
too bad. Now that's said,I still got six weeks till you know,
till the Gophers, the six moreweeks of winter the soda speak.
But yeah, come on over FloridaHockey Now dot com. If you want
to subscribe, it's three dollars andforty nine since a month for premium content,

(59:06):
or twenty nine ninety nine a year. Most stories are free, but
if you if you've become a subscriber, once you sign in, all the
advertising disappears and it's a nice cleanIt looks as good as the New York
Times, maybe better. So comeon over Floria Hockey now follow me on
Twitter at George Richards and that's it. Well I can say is colleagues support
each other. This broadcast is evidentof that. George, thank you very

(59:30):
very much for being on the show. I hope you get some more questions
out of it. But more importantly, I think the one thing I have
out of you as you're a longtimefriend and I've always been so grateful for
the conversations we've had, the funphotos that we've taken, you know,
in public. And all I cantell you is you're one of the finest
colleagues on the planet. And youknow, if anybody deserves a Stanley Cuvering,

(59:51):
it's definitely you, George Richards,because well one man at least you
could be a part of our championshipteam. Anyways. I mean, really,
I say out of complete respect thoughI really do anybody that can see
Championship hockey. No, I knowyou'd like to get on my case.
But remember when I said, folks, Okay, what was that four digit
number that I've talked about. Wetalked about what's that sixty seven? Yeah,

(01:00:16):
fifty five and sixty seven in Toronto, maple least four digit number Florida
Lottery whatever, nobody will care.But if you win, we don't care.
We just maybe they'll help you fundyour retirement. What that said.
Want to thank everybody else for joiningus here on Fire Up Florida. My
name is Scott Morgan Ruth. Pleasedto be joined by George Richards and hopefully
we'll have George Richards down the lineagain on this show. So meanwhile,

(01:00:37):
thank you very much for joining useverybody, and we will catch you on
the next time. Good Night,everybody, from Scott and George D.