The Portland Panthers Official Thread

[shanev]

Welcome to Portland, Oregon, one of the newest member cities of the National Hockey League. In their first order of business, the new franchise named long time hockey executive Patrick Wayne as general manager, and then named Benoit Groulx the head coach. Groulx recently won the gold medal with Canada in the World Junior Championship, prior he led Gatineau to three QMJHL titles in 11 seasons.

The Panthers believe they have the talent to become immediate contenders in the Pacific division, with a great balance on offense and defense. Led up front by Tyler Johnson, T.J. Oshie, and James Van Riemsdyk, and on the back end by Cam Fowler and captain Dan Girardi. In the nets, Jonathan Bernier will try to prove himself a top-level goaltender. He will be ably backed up by Andrew Hammond.

[shanev]

The Portland Panthers Opening Night Roster

Portland Panthers Depth Chart - 2016
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LW	James Van Riemsdyk	Evander Kane	Vladimir Sobotka	Andy Andreoff
C	Tyler Johnson	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	Zack Smith	Mike Richards
RW	T.J. Oshie (A)	Dustin Brown (A)	Jannik Hansen	Steve Downie
D #1	Cam Fowler	Dmitry Kulikov	Jake McCabe
D #2	Dan Girardi (C)	Ryan Ellis	Colin Miller
G	Jonathan Bernier	Andrew Hammond

[shanev]

I wanted to make up a franchise with a new team, in a new city, with a group of players that I like; many that have either been heavily rumored to be traded in the last year, or likely will not be able to be re-signed by their current team when their contract is up after this season. As a Bruins fan, I tried to steer clear of their roster, and tried to pick players that fit my style; with speed and grit.

I relocated three other teams, and moved the divisions around as well. I moved Florida to Quebec, Carolina to Milwaukee, Anaheim to Seattle, and Arizona to, of course, Portland. Before starting the franchise, I selected my players and traded the real Arizona roster for them. The other teams are mostly accurate with the real-life rosters otherwise.

[shanev]

Patrick Wayne, General Manager of the Portland Panthers


Patrick Wayne was born in Portland, and was one of the first candidates that was interviewed and selected as a member of the executive staff. A former U.S. National Team member, Wayne spent five years as the general manager of the Twin Cities Vulcans, a Junior A team in the United States Hockey League. Under his guidance, the Vulcans captured the 2000 USA Hockey Junior A National Championship in Green Bay, Wis. Wayne played nine seasons in the International Hockey League, splitting time among three teams.

Prior to his selection as general manager, Wayne was a member of the USOC Board of Directors and the nominating committee for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame; he was on the USOC National Governing Bodies Council; and in the fall of 2009, served on the Selection Committee for the USOC chief executive officer.

[shanev]

Benoit Groulx, Head Coach of Portland Panthers



Benoit Groulx (born January 30, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He is currently the head coach of the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL and formerly the head coach and general manager for the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL.

Groulx played major junior hockey with the Granby Bisons of the QMJHL. In 2000, following an 11-year professional career played mostly in France, Groulx turned to coaching, taking an assistant position with the Shawinigan Cataractes of the QMJHL. He became a head coach during the 2000–01 QMJHL season when he replaced John Chabot to take the reins of the Hull Olympiques, which was changed to the Gatineau Olympiques in 2003 following the city's amalgamation in 2002, where he won the 2003–04 Ron Lapointe Trophy as the QMJHL coach of the year. He was a head coach in the American Hockey League with the Rochester Americans for both the 2008–09 and 2009–10 AHL seasons, but re-join the Gatineau Olympiques in 2010.

After serving as assistant coach under Brent Sutter at the 2014 World Junior Championships, he was named head coach for Team Canada for the 2015 World Junior Championships.

[Nickflyers]

Cool idea! What do the new teams look like? Definitely following

[shanev]

Thanks. I have screenshots of my team; but not the other three.


T.J. Oshie, right wing


Jonathan Bernier, goalie


The other teams are the Nordiques, the Milwaukee Wolves, and the Seattle Cyclones. I'll try to capture some shots of them too.

[Nickflyers]

nice!!!!!!!