Panthers sign ex NHL forward

With the signing deadline looming, the GMB Nottingham Panthers are announcing changes to their roster for the remainder of the current ice hockey season.

Top flight former NHL forward Jay Henderson is signing for the Panthers and will join in the next week or so.

“He’s a gritty, grinding player and will give us a spark that I feel has been missing in some games,” said coach Corey Neilson.

Henderson played 33 games in the NHL in three spells with the Boston Bruins after they drafted him in the ninth round in 1997. He has extensive experience in Europe in both Austria and three seasons in the highly rated DEL, the top league in Germany.

“Everyone I have spoken to about Jay tells me he is a quality act, I spoke to him in the summer and we did not come to terms but circumstances are always changing in sport and the time is now right to bring him into our line-up,” added coach Neilson.

Henderson is joining from Wichita where he has been playing in the CHL this year.

Asked what he was bringing to the Panthers’ table, 32-year-old Jay replied: “I’m coming to win.”

Leaving the Panthers organisation with the club’s best wishes for the future will be defenceman Mario Larocque. The French-Canadian came in just before Christmas to bolster the blueline but coach Neilson has had talks with the blueliner in the last 24 hours and he is being released.

“These are always hard decisions, very hard decisions but sometimes they have to be made.”

Mario Larocque’s father has undergone major surgery since the player’s arrival in the UK and Mario has visited him in Canada since then. Mario has sent his best wioshes to the Panthers organisation for the rest of the season and says he has found it very hard to focus on his playing with everything that has been going on back home.

Swedish forward Johan Molin is reverting to his stand-by contract and is expected to dress for the GMB Panthers again this year in the event of injuries. He could still be in the line-up this weekend. 

Added Neilson : “I’ve been looking at various options and I’m not going to lie to anyone, this was a hard decision to make, the deadline’s coming up and we wanted to try to be fair to guys to give them as much notice as possible of what we were going to do. Nick Toneys is training every day with the team this week and if we need him to, he’s itching to jump back into the line-up this weekend.”

British forward Ross Dalgleish has been given the okay to resume playing after his long-standing shoulder injury. This weekend he is expected to ice for Peterborough in the EPL in order to gain valuable match time and conditioning.

• EL
• PL
• NL1N
• NL1S
• NL2N
• NL2S

• Panthers skate to sixth straight win
• Huge win for Panthers in Belfast
• Panthers sign former Superleague forward
• McAslan is back in the UK
• Ryhanen signs for rest of season

British Ice Hockey

• About Us
• Advertising
• Contact
• Write for BIH

Elite League

• Belfast Giants
• Braehead Clan
• Cardiff Devils
• Coventry Blaze
• Dundee Stars
• Edinburgh Capitals
• Fife Flyers
• Hull Stingrays
• Nottingham Panthers
• Sheffield Steelers

Premier League

• Basingstoke Bison
• Bracknell Bees
• Guildford Flames
• Manchester Phoenix
• Milton Keynes Lightning
• Peterborough Phantoms
• Sheffield Steelers
• Slough Jets
• Swindon Wildcats
• Telford Tigers

Partner Information

If you are looking for the best online bingo rooms online, look no further! Here at www.123bingoonline.com you can enjoy of the best bingo games for free!

Only at the best online casino you'll be able to enjoy over 100 casino games for free!

Learn how to place risk free bets on any ice hockey match and convert online bookmakers free bet offers into guaranteed cash using the risk free matched betting technique.

All the online bookies best Free Betting offers and free bets.