Denis Potvin Out

This from the Florida Panthers home page; "Sunrise Sports & Entertainment and the Florida Panthers announced today the restructuring of the hockey club’s broadcast teams on FOX Sports Florida and Sports Talk 790 the Ticket for the 2009-10 NHL season. Steve Goldstein, Billy Lindsay and Randy Moller will return to the broadcast booth in 09-10, while Denis Potvin will not be retained. Goldstein will continue to handle television play-by-play duties with Lindsay joining him as color analyst, while Moller will call Panthers radio broadcasts on 790 The Ticket."

It's a sad day for this Panther fan. Denis Potvin has been the TV voice of the Florida Panthers since day 1. On the surface, this move looks like it's strictly financial. Potvin is the longest tenured broadcaster on staff, and a hall of fame player to boot. Clearly, he'd be the highest paid guy on the air. And this is nothing against Billy Lindsay. He's a franchise icon (as far as Panther icons go) and did a fine job on radio. But with no one being brought in to assist Mr. Moller on the radio side, it appears to be all about the money. I can't begin to imagine trying to do hockey play by play on the radio by yourself. Baseball, sure. It's a slow game, time to catch your breath, tell a story, you're on your own. Football, maybe. But hockey is too fast and there's not a lot of time between breaks in play. Good luck Randy.

As far as Potvin goes, I'm interested to hear his side. If it is just a business decision, it sucks. Times are what they are, though, and tough decisions have to be made. It sure would have been nice to see him go out after just one more playoff series... More details as they surface.