Every week from now on, Kinggreg 121 our new author will join me and we will have a round table discussion. This is our first one.

Superk116: Welcome to The Puck Under the Sun’s  First Round Table Discussion. We have the new member of our team Kinggreg121. So King Greg are you excited to be here?

Kinggreg 121: Yes. It’s a pleasure to speak with you.

Superk116: Our first topic is the new logo. What do you think of it?

Kinggreg 121: I like it. I like what it stands for?

Superk116: There are three new logos. The first one is the one in the crest on the jersey. Let’s break each one down. On a scale of 1-10 what do you give the Crested Panther?

Kinggreg121: An 8. The original was a 10.

Superk116: I agree with your rankings. Except I give the crested one a 7. What do you think of the shoulder logo?

Kinggreg121: I think anytime you have to earn something it’s extremely important. In this case it’s a right of passage. Once you earn your stripe, you join a tight knit family

Superk116: What do you think of the new leaping cat?

Kinggreg121: I like how they retained some history of a fan favorite logo that was born with the Florida Panther organization.

Superk116: The Panthers have hired two new assistant coaches. One is AHL head coach Scott Allen. The other is Buffalo’s assistant coach Dave Barr who manned the 11th ranked Buffalo powerplay. Do you think these are good hires?

Kinggreg121: The proof will be in the pudding. Hopefully these coaches can add value especially to the powerplay

Superk116: I hope Barr takes over the powerplay. Under Kelly the Powerplay completely sucked. I see Powerplay potential in many of our players. Do you think a new powerplay coach is needed to unlock that?

Kinggreg121: You have to try something different when something isn’t working. They still need to get more traffic in front of the net. We probably had the least amount of screens in front of the net last year. I wonder if there is an advanced statistic to measure screens.

Superk116: The Panthers made a huge trade a few weeks ago trading who was thought to be the future captain in Erik Gudbranson to the Canucks in exchange for Jared McCann a 20 year old center\winger. Do you think this will pay off?

Kinggreg121: I think it was a good trade unless it creates a negative energy in the locker room. I felt Gudbranson struggled after the injury and never lived up to a third overall pick. We need more offense from the defense and I haven’t seen any change in his offensive game over the years. If McCann can reach his potential and we capitalize on the two draft picks that we picked up than we can play Monday Morning Quarterback. I think it looks like we added value with this trade. Again I hope this doesn’t bring any negative effect to the locker room. That is my biggest concern.

Superk116: On October 8th the Panthers are playing the Devils at West Point. Is this a good idea?

Kinggreg121: Anytime your organization can bring attention to the military and to fans across the nation that are not accustomed to seeing you play, that adds value to your franchise. Hopefully there will be some off ice activities for the players to participate in and strengthen the bonds between teammates.

Superk116: Who do you think will win the cup this year?

Kinggreg121: Pittsburgh because they have a 3-1 lead and I feel like they have looked like the better team in every game. Prior to the start of the series I had Pittsburgh in 7.

Superk116: I think the Sharks will fight back but the Pens will win in 7. Let’s reverse the trend. Now you ask me questions.

Kinggreg121: It seemed like referring had too much of an impact on the Panthers this season. Why did nobody bring up the skinny penalty on Huberdeau in the last few minutes of game 6? It seems they called that penalty why didn’t they call the infamous Trocheck was tripped?

Superk116: Trocheck being Tripped and it leading to a game tying goal led to more controversy because people were only reacting to the call or should I say non call that led to the tying goal. When Huberdeau was penalized, the Islanders didn’t capitalize on that particular powerplay. I read an article this morning by the ref who missed Gretzky’s infamous high stick in the 1993 Semi Finals in Overtime. The ref missed the call. If he had called it, Gretzky would’ve been thrown out of the game. Gretzky went on to score the game winner knocking Toronto out. This ref when he found out that he missed the call, he felt so bad. In this particular case, the ref was right there. It was an obvious penalty but no call. When you are right there you have to call it. We didn’t get the calls because we aren’t respected. There were a ton of fouls in Overtime by the Islanders that should’ve been called. I counted 4 or 5. The NHL needs to hire fair refs. The NHL needs to hire fair referees. If you are going to not call 6 obvious penalties that were against your team and  call a skinny one against your team than you are obviously biased.

Kinggreg121: In many leagues like the NBA, star players get special treatment by the referees. Is this true in the NHL? If yes, why does Jagr never get a call? In fact it seems they are very hard on him.

Superk116: Yes, Sidney Crosby gets special treatment by the refs. Jagr doesn’t get the calls for a few reasons. He is a star past his prime meaning he is past the status in which he gets respected. He is on a very disrespected team is the main reason why he doesn’t get the calls. If he were with let’s say back with Pittsburgh he would probably get the calls. It is very unfair how the referees treat the Florida Panthers and especially a legend like Jaromir Jagr.

Kinggreg121: I have a ton of stat questions. Who will be the leading goal scorer, points, defenseman in goals and points?

Superk116: Trocheck will lead in goals, Huberdeau or Jokinen in assists and Huberdeau in points. Ekblad will lead defenders in goals and points.

Kinggreg121: Final question. What is the short term and long term situation in goaltending?

Superk116: Lu will be the starter for the next few years. Montembeault will be the future starrer.

Kinggreg121: That’s it

Superk116: Thanks for coming

Kinggreg121: No Problem