Panthers plan to keep Stephen Weiss
If you watched Hotstove Tonight on Hockey Night In Canada last weekend, you heard Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon toss cold water on rumours that he was willing to trade unrestricted free agent-to-be Stephen Weiss, who has a no-move clause.
“Ridiculous,” Tallon said. “I’m not trading him, I’m going to try to sign him.”
The Panthers are loaded with prospects and re-signing Weiss allows the organization to a) hold on to those players and b) prevent head coach Kevin Dineen from tossing them into situations they may not be ready for.
It’s really hard to find good centres. Clubs get them and try their hardest to keep them. In the last four seasons, Florida’s finished 17th, 28th, 27th and 27th in goals per game. In each of those years, Weiss finished in the top two in team scoring.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opinion/2013/02/30-thoughts-panthers-plan-to-keep-weiss.html