head coach: Bryan Murray

roster: C - Kirk Muller, Rob Niedermayer, Dave Gagner, Steve Washburn, Chris Wells. LW - Johan Garpenlov, Viktor Kozlov, Bill Lindsay, Radek Dvorak. RW - Scott Mellanby, Ray Sheppard, Jody Hull, Tom Fitzgerald. D - Robert Svehla, Gord Murphy, Ed Jovanovski, Paul Laus, Terry Carkner, Rhett Warrener, Dallas Eakins. G - John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick.

injuries: Jody Hull, rw (broken wrist, 2-3 weeks as of 1-6-98); Dave Gagner, c (strained abdomen, day-to-day as of 1-11-98).

transactions: Center Ryan Johnson was re-assigned from the Florida Panthers (NHL) to the Beast of New Haven (AHL). On New Year's Day, David Nemirovsky, lw, was re-assigned from the Florida Panthers (NHL) to the Beast of New Haven (AHL).

standings:

Eastern Conference - Atlantic Division   
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
New Jersey   44  28  14   2    58  132   92  
Philadelphia 44  25  11   8    58  134   97  
Washington   46  21  17   8    50  128  122  
Florida      46  15  21  10    40  117  131   
NY Rangers   45  14  19  12    40  114  123   
NY Islanders 45  15  25   5    35  112  132  
Tampa Bay    44   9  27   8    26   78  135  

game results:

12/17 NY Rangers      L 4-2 
12/18 at Washington   W 4-0 
12/20 Philadelphia    L 2-0 
12/23 Saint Louis     L 3-2 
12/26 at Carolina     W 5-2 
12/27 at NY Islanders W 6-1 
12/30 San Jose        T 2-2 
01/01 New Jersey      W 2-1 OT
01/02 at Tampa Bay    T 2-2 
01/04 Anaheim         T 3-3 
01/07 Edmonton        L 3-2 
01/09 Calgary         T 3-3 
01/10 Vancouver       T 2-2 

team news:

by Eric Seiden, Florida Correspondent

"It's a hockey night in South Florida, and here come your Panthers," screamed the announcer to the empty stands. In true Miami fashion, fans stay away from a losing teams in droves. Though for the New Year's Day game, the stands were amazingly full. Maybe nobody had anything better to do. This hungover reporter nominates himself for a Nobel prize for getting out of bed and getting to the arena in advance of the noon start. Whomever decided a noon game after New Year's Eve was a good idea should be shot, drawn and quartered, hung, electrocuted, and then something bad should be done to the remaining carcass.

Frankly, though, the fans were fit to be tied. Specifically, of the last seven games, six went into overtime of which five ended in ties, the other two being a split decision.

But first, a special advisory: the most exciting thing to happen to the Panthers in the past four weeks was a special incident during the overtime period against Calgary when a gentleman came on to the ice totally naked, took a victory lap, and left. The unexpected show interrupted a fight where in the combatants broke up the fight due to hysterical laughter. A security officer closest to the offender took no action as she wanted nothing to do with him. Apparently his stick wasn't the right size...

It's been a hard time to be a Panther fan, what with all the losses piling up in unwelcome fashion. With the road games producing more wins (or lately ties) than home games, the Panthers tried their road jersey at home for the abominably early New Year's Day game with great success as Rob Niedermayer scored the game-winner in overtime after Ray Whitney scored the first goal of the game early in the first period. Referee Kerry Fraser slept through most of the game, missing just about every call. When Murray decided to sit Whitney, the new fan favorite, a chant went up to bring Whitney in "We Want Whitney", and it was met with the return of Whitney to the ice much to the fans' delight.

The game against the Islanders on 12-27 was entirely unremarkable except for the fact it was John Vanbiesbrouck's 300th NHL win, making him only the second US born goaltender to reach that goal. As of 12-27 he needed five wins to pass Panthers goaltending coach Billy Smith (305 wins) for thirteenth place in all-time wins. It must be an awesome feeling to break your own coach's record. Or, imagine how it must feel being a coach who is so good your own student breaks it.

Panthers Jody Hull and Kirk Muller were both injured against the Flyers. Hull suffered a fractured wrist and Muller suffered a sprain of the left knee during the first period. This just adds to the rotten, stinking, cesspool of a year Kirk has been having so far. One can only hope whomever steps up to fill in does a better job. Kirk is clearly having a bad year, though one probably shouldn't be overly harsh as all players have a bad year where nothing goes right: Kirk's number is clearly up. Speaking of Kirk's number, upon his return during the west coast Panthers road trip he only needed four more games to record his 1,000th NHL game, a milestone to be sure.

Talk of the town continues to circulate about team captain Scott Mellanby, who has failed to perform on the ice and also failed to lead the team as a true captain should. While nobody is expecting a change mid-season, the safe bets are on a new captain come next season. Apparently Scott's new contract coupled with the "C" on his jersey have distracted him from his primary job of playing hockey.

Eddie Jovanovski has improved from the poor play that dogged him, but that has been replaced by a new monkey on his back: inconsistency. He'll play a great period and a bad period, a good game and a bad game. Eddie needs to concentrate more. He's not playing the hard hitting defense that got him noticed early on. He'll go three or four games without a single hard hit against an opponent. This isn't to pick on Eddie because the whole team repeatedly fails to follow through on checks, but since it was supposedly his forte, one would assume he'd be the leader in that department. And he hasn't been.

The complaints about the Panthers allowing too many goals are really not the fault of whatever poor sap sits in the goal in a vain effort to defend it, but rather the Panthers' complete defensive failure. New defensive coach Joe Cirella gets all the blame. While he's a former Panther, that doesn't make him a coach. Everyone seems surprised that Murray hasn't done something already. With the persistent rumor that Ted Nolan will return to Buffalo to coach the Sabres, that frees up former coach Lindy Ruff for the job he did so well, though the odds are another team would take him as a head coach before he returned behind the Panthers bench. Though the slim possibility he'll replace Murray as Florida's full-time coach next season certainly raises some hopes.

The Tampa game was marred by play so bad that even the local media used words such as "suck" to describe it. The Panthers' spectacularly shameful snatching of a tie from the jaws of victory versus Tampa was not the fault of Mark Fitzpatrick making an appearance in net. Yes, Fitzpatrick could have stopped the first goal, but it was Jovanovski who screwed up (along with normally solid Rhett Warrener) to allow the breakaway. Every time Jovo touched the puck it was scary. In the same game, captain Scott Mellanby was really playing like a marshmallow. But the whole team has really lost the physical aspect of their game, making the Panthers as feared as the little league mite teams that provide intermission entertainment.

I'd like to quote myself on the subject of Eddie Jovanovski. I made a rather lengthy diatribe on the Florida Panthers Mailing List from which I'd like to briefly excerpt. "Jovo. Aye, there's the rub. He is (supposedly) a defenseman. As such, if he scores NO GOALS I will still be happy. However if he scores, I clearly wish it to be in the net of our opponent. I take great exception to him checking Vanbiesbrouck last year, for which he was benched one game as punishment. I object to him not being in the correct position most of the time. I object to his repeated lapses of defensive judgement, especially because he knows hockey and shouldn't make these mistakes. I object to the fact he's not out there trying to help the team -- at least not OUR team. A defenseman is a gear in a machine. Clearly this gear isn't working properly, causing the machine to function improperly. Therefore, the broken gear should be exchanged for one that works in this machine. Eddie may be a great player one day, but I don't think it will ever be for the Panthers. Send him down to the minors or send him away -- he's not doing the job. I'm really serious about this. Sadly, to my knowledge, neither Eddie nor any of his relatives read this list 'cause he ought to know that he's down there making a mess and every time he touches the puck many fans cringe in fear because we see it; it ain't just me folks. Take a poll in section 224 (or any other section), and you'll find a majority is like-minded."

* The New Haven Register reported that David Nemirovsky was unhappy about getting sent down to the minors and asked to be traded. "Basically, they (Florida) told me to work on my all-around game," Nemirovsky said. "There was not solid reason for sending me down. Right now, I'm waiting for a trade. I talked to my agent .... There are a lot of teams that need help and teams know that I can help them."

Nemirovsky went on to tell the Register, "If they can work out a deal with Florida, I want an opportunity now. It's my turn to show that I can be a good player in the NHL. It's my turn to take the big step."

He feels that the Panthers did not give him an opportunity to show what he can do for them, especially after sitting out as a healthy scratch. Nemirovsky has been often criticized in the past for "playing soft" around the boards, not getting physical, and not trying to make things happen with his checking game. Nemirovsky has one year left on his contract with the Panthers. He has spent parts of the last two seasons in the AHL (with the now defunct Carolina Monarchs).

OTHER NEWS:

Trade rumors swirl about the team. Rumors involving Sergei Fedorov persist despite denials from both sides. Fedorov now makes Florida one of his permanent homes, where he owns a South Beach condo with his lady friend. However his work ethic and desire to win are beginning to be questioned not only by his former teammates, but also by his friends.

Rumors about goaltending tandem Mark Fitzpatrick and John Vanbiesbrouck also run rampant. Sources are unable to confirm or deny any of them, and if you call more than one source, they tend to contradict each other. Contract negotiations with John Vanbiesbrouck resumed with very little success. Both sides are very far apart. Fans are dreading a repeat of the acrimonious talks that surrounded Beezer's first contract negotiations. Meanwhile, Mark Fitzpatrick complained publicly about his lack of playing time. His comments landed him in the Miami Herald and also in the dog house with interim (HA!) coach (double-HA!) Bryan Murray. Supposedly his mouth is going to continue to keep him on the bench more than his recent poor performances.

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