after the Booth deal we might be able to get Weiss for a team signed jersey

Stephen Weiss for Chris stewart and a 1st round pick.

I think if your young guns are all untouchable + the fact that due to injuries it's probably not safe trading away roster players, then it's probably unlikely you'll land an improvement at C over Weiss for draft picks alone. Having a gangbusters top line isn't necessarily essential to get some playoff success but depth is. If I'm Tallon, I'm focusing on beefing up my depth (forwards and D) for mid-prospects and/or draft picks.

I would have to say that I would be surprised if Tallon traded Weiss. I fully understand his numbers as of late have not been great, but that will happen from time to time during a season, and I am sure that Tallon is not so short-sighted to think that Weiss will not turn it around again.

As a Jets fan I would give my left arm to have a center of Weiss' ability. He makes Fleischmann a better player and allows Versteeg to do what he does best in the offensive zone. Weiss, for most fans outside Florida, is an unknown commodity, but for those who have had the chance to watch him play he is much more impressive than one might think.

Any return for Weiss would need to be considerable as it is not that easy to just replace him with another center of the same ability. Character and chemistry are not intangibles to be taken lightly.

I hope for the Panthers that they retain Weiss' services for not only this year and next, but sign him to a long term deal.

Tallon is a very bright guy, and as such will not make a knee-jerk reaction after some sub par play. He knows better.

Good luck to all of you Panther fans out there. You deserve to have a quality product on the ice again.

I would have to say that I would be surprised if Tallon traded Weiss. I fully understand his numbers as of late have not been great, but that will happen from time to time during a season, and I am sure that Tallon is not so short-sighted to think that Weiss will not turn it around again.

As a Jets fan I would give my left arm to have a center of Weiss' ability. He makes Fleischmann a better player and allows Versteeg to do what he does best in the offensive zone. Weiss, for most fans outside Florida, is an unknown commodity, but for those who have had the chance to watch him play he is much more impressive than one might think.

Any return for Weiss would need to be considerable as it is not that easy to just replace him with another center of the same ability. Character and chemistry are not intangibles to be taken lightly.

I hope for the Panthers that they retain Weiss' services for not only this year and next, but sign him to a long term deal.

Tallon is a very bright guy, and as such will not make a knee-jerk reaction after some sub par play. He knows better.

Good luck to all of you Panther fans out there. You deserve to have a quality product on the ice again.
- RickDixon69

Totally agree with you and if you ask me he is one of the best TWFs in the League most people just don't know it because he have done so bad for the whole time he has been with us he is 100% on the list of untouchables and you have to give him credit to want to stay with the team unlike Horton and friends

In Weiss, you have a guy that loves the area, is great in the community and can produce at a .5 to .75 point per game ratio while being a reliable two-way forward. The fact is that he could have left the franchise, like Horton, but he showed a commitment to this team (some may debate his sanity since this is Florida we are talking about). If trading him was a possibility then it would have happened last season when the team was out of contention. He is forced to be a number 1 center here when his body of work supports a 2nd line role for a contender.

The fact is the guy plays hurt and I would bet that he is playing with an undisclosed nagging injury. He doesn't want to come out of the lineup. Couple that with opponents playing the top line more aggressively by taking away space and finishing checks leads us to reduced point production. I would argue that the recent poor plus/minus is a combination of the aforementioned reduced points and the recent trend of not playing smart, chip it out chip it deep, hockey. Too many defensive zone turnovers as the team tries to maintain puck possession. While injuries have not had a direct impact to the top line, the indirect impact is increased pressure to score because of injuries to lines 2-4.

Weiss needs playoff experience this year to grow and be a good source of leadership experience to the youth coming up in the system. He is one of the few choices for the captaincy but not having playoff experience, to me, is a missing requirement that he needs to be awarded the position.

A few years ago, I was taking in a practice at Incredible Ice.. back when it was called such. This was during a time Weiss had shoulder surgery and wasn't playing. After the practice, he came out with a sling on and I began to walk over to him with a few cards and an 8x10 to sign. He had his hands full, so I put my things on the trunk of his car and helped him into the drivers seat. Not only did he sit there and chat with me about his injury, he signed all the things I had for him to sign.. took the hat off his head, signed it, and gave it to me. Name another player in the league who would do that?

You guys are right.. you cannot teach heart. You can't teach passion. He not only deserves to wear the "C" but he deserves the playoffs god damnit!

A few years ago, I was taking in a practice at Incredible Ice.. back when it was called such. This was during a time Weiss had shoulder surgery and wasn't playing. After the practice, he came out with a sling on and I began to walk over to him with a few cards and an 8x10 to sign. He had his hands full, so I put my things on the trunk of his car and helped him into the drivers seat. Not only did he sit there and chat with me about his injury, he signed all the things I had for him to sign.. took the hat off his head, signed it, and gave it to me. Name another player in the league who would do that?

You guys are right.. you cannot teach heart. You can't teach passion. He not only deserves to wear the "C" but he deserves the playoffs god damnit!
- Panthers88

Well said, guys. I agree with all of the pro-Weiss posts. Please know I do not want Weiss to be traded...ever. I include the pros and cons of such a scenario in this piece. There is precedent for Tallon to make major moves when combining poor production and improving the team for the playoff run. If Weiss were to continue on this pace for the rest of the year the team is in serious trouble. This article was created as a talking point and not the beginning of a campaign to run him out of town. Although I cover the team, I am a fan as well. He deserves the best in South Florida and we all hope he gets it. However, there are some eyebrows being raised at his major dropoff in production over the last few months. The numbers don't lie, but we all know he is capable of gritting this stretch out to get back to being himself again on the ice. Go Cats.

So we all more-or-less agree Weiss is not going to be moved. Even if Tallon wanted to move him (and there is no indication right now that he does) he would be hard pressed to get Weiss to waive his NTC.

There is a lot of talk on other Panther blogs that the Strachan one-way signing means we are over defense-men-ed for next season (Campbell, Jovo, Gudbranson, Weaver, Strachan, Kulikov (RFA), Ellerby (RFA?), Garrison (UFA)). It seems the hand-writing is in fact on the wall that a D-man is going to be moved and suspicion is that it will be either Ellerby, Kulikov, or Garrison. Most folks seem to doubt a Kuli move, and Ellerby probably does not bring enough in return to justify the move. Again, I think they will move Garrison. Its interesting that despite the fact he is high in the rankings for D-men with goals and has a great +/- there is no talk on XM home ice, no talk on TSN, no talk by Bob McKenzie about Garrison despite the fact that there is so much talk about teams in need of defense. Is he worth less than we think?

it would be a disgrace if Tallon didn't do anything. Plain and stimple.

11 years of no playoffs he better make a move to make this team better. What would us fans think if he didn't?

a lot of Panther fans are blinded by this bullshyt that Garrison, jovo, and kulikov bs coming back is our deadline. thats a fraud right there. just a way to save a buck by this horrible organiztion.

it would be a disgrace if Tallon didn't do anything. Plain and stimple.

11 years of no playoffs he better make a move to make this team better. What would us fans think if he didn't?

a lot of Panther fans are blinded by this bullshyt that Garrison, jovo, and kulikov bs coming back is our deadline. thats a fraud right there. just a way to save a buck by this horrible organiztion.
- Gudbranson2012

So true. Even with those three dressed we still played poorly at times. It'll be nice to get Kulikov back, but I think Garrison is very quietly being shopped. We aren't trading for picks anymore, people. The problem is, the trade deadline has been altered dramatically by NTC's and heavy loaded contracts.

I just returned from tonight's shootout loss to the Wild. In a prior Panther blog I posted that the stretch coming up would be telling as teams like the WIld, Anaheim, Montreal, etc. were coming up and we needed to be well above .500 if were truly a playoff team. Unfortunately the handwriting is on the wall and if we do make the playoffs, its going to be because we backed into them with other teams demise.

Observations from tonight are that the 1st line does not look good. Versteeg looked lazy on the ice and Weiss bailed him out big-time back checking away a goal in the 3rd. Bergenheim and Samuelsson are playing well and hard. Matthias/Santorelli/Skille looked good, but Skille's speed is down since he came back and Repik replaced him at some point and looked good. Many of you know I still believe that Repik can contribute and he almost put a very sweet assist on the board in the 3rd, and caused some nice turnovers as well as back checked hard. Barch barely played and is not really worthy of being part of the discussion. Kopecky really did not add much of anything again tonight.

The defense did not impress. Campbell was his usual solid self, Strachan and Ellerby worth both good, Jovo was simply awful, Weaver was not good tonight and Gudbranson is obviously still young and learning a very difficult position. Theodore was decent, not great. The 1st goal he let a rebound go straight into the high slot, and he was awful in the shootout.

I have to keep telling myself that I came into this season not thinking this was the year, but its hard the way this team put itself in play only to now watch them piss it away. This team, when healthy, is loaded with defensive talent, they need to move someone soon to add some push to the offensive end, at this point I only hope that one of our less achieving forwards goes in the deal also, if for no other reason than to open the space for Howden next season. Big disappointment tonight, the team looked flat and lifeless.