Panthers sign Fitzpatrick, three others Sunrise, FL (Sports Network) - The Florida Panthers signed four players on
Thursday, including defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick, 33, who signed a two-year contract, appeared in 19 games with the
Philadelphia Flyers last season and tallied one assist with a minus-11 rating.
Over 11 seasons in the NHL, he has appeared in 287 games and has 10 goals and
25 assists. He has also donned the uniforms of Montreal, St. Louis, Nashville,
Buffalo and Vancouver.
The club also agreed to terms on two-year contracts with goaltender Chris
Beckford-Tseu and forward Steve MacIntyr... More...
Cory Stillman decided to leave Ottawa for warmer weather as he moved on to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday as he signed a 3-year, $10.6 million deal with the club, according to ESPN.
Our View:Stillman will hope to help replace the goal scoring lost when Olli Jokinen moved to Phoenix in a daft day deal. Long an underrated scorer, Stillman will hope to stay healthy long enough to post his near point per game scoring average on a line with Stephen Weiss and Nathan Horton.
Rostislav Olesz has agreed to a multi-year deal to remain with the Panthers, according to TSN.ca. Sources indicate it is a six-year, $18.75 million deal, with an annual salary cap hit of $3.125 million.
Our View:Olesz was on the verge of a breakout campaign in 2007-08 but was hampered by a hand injury most of the year, which limited him to 14 goals and 12 assists (26 points) over 56 games. He notably registered four goals and two assists over eight games played in February.
The Panthers have bought out the remainder of Jozef Stumpel's contract with the club, according to TSN.ca. Stumpel was entering the last season of a two-year contract extension that paid him $2.25 million.
Our View:The 35-year old center is now an unrestricted free agent. He chipped in seven goals and 13 assists over 52 games with the Panthers in 2007-08. He should find work as a deep reserve next season, but won't hold any fantasy value.
