Panthers Sign Wade Belak, Luke Beaverson

[VodkaFish]

SUNRISE, Fla. – Florida Panthers General Manager Jacques Martin announced today that the club has agreed to terms on a two-year contract with RW Wade Belak. In addition, the club has agreed to terms with D Luke Beaverson on an entry level contract.

Belak, 31, was acquired by Florida from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 26, 2008, in exchange for a fifth round draft pick in this summer’s NHL Entry Draft. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native played in the Panthers’ final 17 games, registering no points and 12 penalty minutes. In 47 games played for both Florida and Toronto last year, Belak recorded one goal with 78 penalty minutes.

“Wade is a high character, hard working player and versatile player who immediately made an impact on our team last season,” said Martin. “He provides our club with a tremendous physical presence and we look forward to his continued contributions to our team both on and off the ice for the next two years.”

The 6-foot-5, 225-pound winger has played for four teams (Calgary, Colorado, Toronto & Florida) in his 11-year NHL career, scoring 29 points (8-21-29) with 1,108 penalty minutes. Belak has appeared in 22 career playoff games, all with Toronto, scoring one goal with 36 penalty minutes.

Belak was originally drafted by Quebec with their first choice, (12th overall), in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft.

Beaverson, 23, completed his senior season at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, playing in 30 games scoring one goal with two assists and 24 penalty minutes. It marked the fourth consecutive season that he played in at least 30 games during his tenure with the UAA Seawolves. Upon the completion of the season, the St. Paul, Minnesota, native earned WCHA Academic All-Conference honors for third time in his career and received the Jack Peterson Student-Athlete award.

“Beaverson, who served as his team’s captain this past season, is another high character player who we are pleased to have signed,” said Martin. “He is a big, strong and durable defenseman who will continue to develop playing at the professional level.”

Beaverson was selected by Florida with their seventh choice, (283rd overall), in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

[Smerri1029]

Hopefully the Panthers grow some nuts and Belak is a regular occurance in their line-up. Two year deal seems like they want him to be a presence.

[Thrillhouse]

I'm sad, but good for Wade. The Leafs weren't using him...he's better off somewhere else. I'm happy for him that he's found a place that appreciates what he brings. Go Wade!

[I_am_Belak_2]

Ah crap. Oh well, Florida will use him more. Good luck with the Panthers Wade.

[caps05]

Good for the Cats. He dressed in nearly every game with Florida after the trade, so it appears that he'll be dressed regularly the next couple of years.

[Gtrain15]

Good For FL. They will use him and it will make the SE more interesting

[stevecanuck16]

Damn, Belak was a guy I was interested in signing over the summer. Oh well, all the best to him in Florida.

[Isles4life]

Hopefully Wade has found a home where he'll get to play. Good for him.

[icecat]

Good signing for the Panthers

[marc123]

The Panthers are starting to look tough with guys like Wade Belak, Tanner Glass, Garth Murray, Bryan Allen, Steve Montador, Gregory Campbell and a few more. They should have a good 2008/2009 season fighting wise.

[Snipes19]

Originally Posted by marc123

The Panthers are starting to look tough with guys like Wade Belak, Tanner Glass, Garth Murray, Bryan Allen, Steve Montador, Gregory Campbell and a few more. They should have a good 2008/2009 season fighting wise.

Eh...

I wouldn't exactly say that. The Panthers have a few fighters, but Belak is really the only tough one out of that group. A lot of those guys aren't good fighters. Florida is now above teams like Montreal and Toronto when it comes to toughness, but they are average at best. In fact, I'd still say that there are at least 15 teams that are tougher than them, so they could still be below average.

Either way though, good for the Panthers to sign Belak to an extension. It sounds like he will now have a spot in their lineup game-in and game-out ... which is good news. At least Florida has a heavyweight - which makes them more entertaining to watch than they were at the beginning of the 07-08 season. So, they have gained SOME toughness at least.

There will still be a lot of fighters on the move to new teams this offseason. But now Belak won't be one of them.

[Viper207]

Nice to see Florida carry a solid heavy as they build up their team toughness. Signing Belak may have made them as tough as anyone in that division - especially if Tampa doesn't replace Roy. And good for Belak. He gets to play, do his job, and make his money. He'll need for all of that sun block he's got to be using down there.

[BGDDYKWL]

Definitely good to see them sign him for two years. It seemed as though they appreciated his services, but essentially the only way you know for sure is when the team locks the guy up. As has been mentioned, as long as the Panthers don't use him like the Leafs did last year then this is good news, as the Panthers had been in pretty desperate need of an enforcer. Bottom line is he's one of the best fighters in this league, and at only 31 he should have at least a few good years left in him.

Belak had offseason shoulder surgery and is currently rehabbing up in Canada.

He told me and Brian Y today that he's expected to be fine and dandy come training camp.

One thing I liked about Wade last year was how he noticed how much pressure Olli Jokinen was carrying around at the end of the season and tried to alleviate some of that by joking around with Olli on the ice, kind of messing with him to loosen him up, break up some of the tension. I don't know too many other players who would have not only recognized the pressure Olli was under, but try to do something to lessen it. Don't know if it worked, but at least the dude gave it a shot.

Regarding his shoulder surgery, Belak says he had a partially torn labrum and had been playing in pain for over a year. Says it got to the point where it affected his off-ice work. He adds he'll be good come August, plenty of time for training camp when it kicks off in September.

"It got to the point where I couldn't work the way I wanted to,'' he said. "It would flare up and that would be enough. They say the rehab is four to six months, but it's feeling real good so I'm looking at the four month side of things. I'm confident it'll be fine.''

Link

[leafs_fan77]

Good for Wade, at least he will get played in probably 85+% of the games and with half decent ice time.

[Killah_punk]

Hopefully Belak gets some good playing time and gets into some good scraps next season.