[Imber]

Quote

From the Sun-Sentinel:

Florida Panthers: Kulikov out with "significant'' knee injury (update 5:50 p.m.)
> Posted by Steve Gorten on December 18, 2009 09:05 PM

Harvey Fialkov picking up Panthers for Steve G. here in chilly Raleigh. Place panics when snow is forecast kind of like South Florida does when a hurricane is brewing. Turned out to be cold rain. Couldn't even get a local paper because of fear!

Anyhow, as Steve reported rookie defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who was hurt early in the second period Friday against the Hurricanes when he suffered a lower body injury, didn't travel with the team.

Just finished a pre-game chat with coach Pete DeBoer and while he said the knee injury appears to be, "significant,'' he doesn't expect surgery to be required. That sounds like the MCL.

This point has been edited by Imber: 20 December 2009 - 01:46 AM

[sharkdivmstr]

Damn. That sucks. Good thing we have depth on the D.

[Imber]

Things seemed to have turned 180 since last night.

[sharkdivmstr]

Well, losing Kulikov sucks but its not the end of the world. I think we still have Koistenen and Garrison who can step in well enough. The loss to the Canes sucks ass but at least they tried to battle back. 2 goals in the 3rd is a nice effort. It just wasn't enough.

[Imber]

Kulikov has been pretty suspect defensively, but I'm not ready to give Koistinen another crack so fast. Just not a great 24 hours for the Cats.

[sharkdivmstr]

Kulikov has 12 points in 36 games and is a -6. He gets regular ice time and makes constant rookie mistakes.

Koistenen has 4 points in 17 games (some out of natural position as a 4th line forward) and is a +1. He gets very little ice time and has veteran experience (yes, from Europe). Just needs regular ice time to get the feel of playing here. He's never gotten that with us or Nashville.

I still have no problem letting him play. Again, how many people have the Panthers grabbed and let go of too soon/before their prime:
Cullen, Huselius, Sameulsson, Montador, Glass (<--STILL irritates me most, up to 6 pts in 31 games on mostly 4th line duty, is +6, average 2 hits/game)

Give the guy a chance with some regular ice time. See if his legs come in. I'll tell PDB the same thing if you can get me 5 min with him. OK, maybe 10. I have ALOT of things we need all need to say. Bring Sexton along too.

This point has been edited by sharkdivmstr: 20 December 2009 - 09:12 AM

[CatWoman34]

You can't call up Koistinen anyways (from GR):

Quote

Taking a break from Christmas shopping for some news. First, word out of Rochester is Ville Koistinen suffered a major knee injury and may have to have surgery soon...

So he's done for awhile as well.

[Imber]

Damn so much for that depth all of a sudden. Randy Moller just said how the Panthers had been lucky in not having any injuries to the D this year. Nice jinx Randy.

[sharkdivmstr]

Haha...it was true at least! Still have Garrison and Ellerby. They can fill the void well enough. Hell, it may be good for them to get up here and get some decent ice time.