The Florida Panthers had money to spend in free agency, and loaded up, bringing in four forwards, one defenceman and a goaltender on the first day of free agency. Iman Marshall Ravens Jersey . Numbers Game looks at the Panthers big first day of free agency. The Panthers Get: LW Jussi Jokinen, C Dave Bolland, C, Derek MacKenzie, RW Shawn Thornton, D Willie Mitchell, G Al Montoya. The Florida Panthers headed into the offseason giving general manager Dale Tallon more financial freedom than theyve had in recent seasons, and he wasted no time spending that money, with mixed results. Jokinen, 31, had a strong season playing on Evgeni Malkins wing in Pittsburgh, scoring 57 points in 81 games, the second-best point total of his career. That situation is not a luxury that Jokinen can count on in Florida where, despite their young talent, they have no one in Malkins class, but Jokinen has shown that he can be a productive contributor with solid possession numbers when playing with skilled players. Slot him alongside young Finn Aleksander Barkov and that has the makings of a solid two-way line and maybe Jokinen isnt likely to be scoring 50-plus points in Florida, where no one scored even 40 points last season, but Jokinen can be a useful player for at least three of the four years for which he signed, at a total cost of $16-million. Then, things got silly. Coming into free agency, there was a natural connection to make between Dave Bolland and Panthers GM Dale Tallon, given their time together in Chicago, but Bolland is a third-line centre so its really hard to justify the kind of money and term that was given. Bolland signed a five-year, $27.5-million contract, and its just flat-out outrageous. Bolland played well with the Maple Leafs last season, at least he did when he was healthy, but hes missed 142 games over the past five seasons and is coming off a season in which he missed 59 games due to a sliced ankle tendon. At his best, Bolland has been productive, scoring more than 35 points three times, and handled a lot of tough assignments in terms of zone starts and quality of competition, but assuming that hes up to that level now, after his latest injury, seems a tad optimistic and paying money and term that is more typical of a top-six forward is just really difficult to digest. For a checking centre, he also hasnt been very good at limiting shots against while killing penalties. Sure, the Panthers are nowhere near the cap now, and maybe they never will be, but its hard to take a team from being also-rans to contenders simply by paying a checking centre a boatload of money. By contrast, Paul Stastny and Thomas Vanek were the only two free agent forwards to come at a higher cap hit and neither one signed for five years. They didnt get as much term as Dave Bolland. MacKenzie, a 33-year-old checking centre, has been a reliable fourth-liner for the Blue Jackets. He had a career-high 237 hits last season and in four seasons with the Blue Jackets, hes won 54.9% of his draws. Signed for three years and $3.9-million, MacKenzie gives the Panthers good depth down the middle and it looks like Bolland and MacKenzie are going to bump prospects like Brandon Pirri and Vince Trocheck down the depth chart, presumably right out of the Top 12 unless they can fit on the wing. Shawn Thornton is a tough guy whose game has been declining in recent seasons. Hes fought 90 times over the past six seasons, but thats about what the 36-year-old (who turns 37 later this month) can do at this point. Whether thats worth more than a million dollars per season or multiple years probably has different answers for teams that arent trying to reach the salary floor. After missing the entire 2012-2013 season, Willie Mitchell had a nice comeback season, playing more than 20 minutes a night, a crucial part of the Kings second Stanley Cup win in the past three seasons. Hes 37, so not the fleetest afoot, but Mitchell has size, strength and adds a shot of reliability to the Panthers defence. In Mitchell and Brian Campbell (at least for now), the Panthers have a couple veterans that could show the way for first overall draft pick Aaron Ekblad and Mitchell, while a decent addition gets a nice payday -- two years, $8.5-million -- to eat some minutes on the Panthers blueline. Backup goaltender Al Montoya is a 29-year-old who posted a .920 save percentage in 28 games with the Jets last season. Trouble is, in the prevous two seasons, his save percentage was .894, so its not really reasonable to expect more than Montoyas career average which is .910. Adding Montoya would figure to mark the end of Dan Ellis time in Florida, though it may be difficult to find a taker for a 34-year-old coming off the worst season of his career. The Florida Panthers spent big money in the summer of 2011, overpaying a bunch of veterans in order to reach the salary floor, and this year has a similar feel to it. The issue for the Panthers is that they are a franchise that has reached the postseason once in the past 13 years; they dont need to overpay free agents as much as they need to build a stable base of talent. With all the money the Panthers spent on July 1, theres not much reason to believe any of those players are going to be long-term answers. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Mark Andrews Ravens Jersey . The 41-year-old Northern Irishman has proved a perfect fit at Liverpool since taking over from Kenny Dalglish in the summer of 2012 and steered the team to an unexpected title challenge in the Premier League last season. Lamar Jackson Youth Jersey . Yup, he definitely needed this one. Craig homered twice and had three RBIs Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Craig went 4 for 5 and Yadier Molina added three hits for the Cardinals, who salvaged the final game of a three-game set in hopes of staying within shouting distance of front-running Milwaukee in the NL Central. http://www.ravensrookiestore.com/Ravens-Iman-Marshall-Jersey/ . - The Baltimore Ravens and tight end Dennis Pitta reached agreement on a five-year contract Friday.PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - Leon Draisaitl had two goals and two assists as the Prince Albert Raiders crushed the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors 9-2 on Tuesday in Western Hockey League action. Josh Morrissey also had a pair of goals for the Raiders (31-30-5) while Mackenze Stewart, Calder Brooks, Reid Gardiner, Chance Braid and Carson Perreaux had the others. Brayden Point scored both goals for the Warriors (17-40-9), who are on a two-game slide. Prince Alberts Nick McBride made 19 saves for the win as Justin Paulic allowed all nine goals on 36 shots for Moose Jaw. --- HITMEN 5 WHEAT KINGS 1 BRANDON — Chris Driedger stopped 23 shots as Calgary downed the Wheat Kings for its 12th win in its last 13 outings. Ben Thomas and Brady Brassart each had a goal and an assist for the Hitmen (44-15-7) while Pavel Padakin, Greg Chase and Connor Rankin added a goal apiece. Rihards Bukarts scored the lone goal for Brandon (31-27-9), which has dropped back-to-back games. Jordan Papirny turned aside 35-of-40 shots in a losing cause. --- BRONCOS 4 OIL KINGS 3 SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — The Broncos scored four times in the third period to come from behind and defeat Edmonton. Colby Cave, Jay Merkley, Andrew Johnson and Nathan Burns scorred for Swift Current (34-24-9), which improved to 6-0-1 in its last seven games. Marquise Brown Ravens Jersey. Henrik Samuelsson scored both goals for the Oil Kings (45-17-3), who led 2-0 early in the third. Eetu Laurikainen made 26 saves for the Broncos while Edmontons Tristan Jarry stopped 31-of-35 shots in defeat. --- REBELS 4 ICE 0 CRANBROOK, B.C. — Patrik Bartosak stopped all 30 shots his way as Red Deer blanked Kootenay. Ryhse Dieno, Brooks Maxwell, Wyatt Johnson and Aspen Sterzer supplied the goals for the Rebels (31-30-5). Mackenzie Skapski kicked out 29-of-32 shots for the Ice (37-25-4), who are on a two-game skid. Red Deer went 1 for 1 on the power play while Kootenay failed to score on two chances with the man advantage. --- SILVERTIPS 5 ROCKETS 1 EVERETT, Wash. — Joshua Winquist had two goals and an assist as the Silvertips halted Kelownas four-game win streak. Jujhar Khaira scored once and set up two more for Everett (34-24-9) and Ben Betker and Carson Stadnyk each scored once. Austin Lots made 23 saves for the Silvertips. Justin Kirkland scored for the Rockets (52-10-4) while Jackson Whistle allowed five goals on 27 shots through two periods of play. Jordon Cooke made 11 saves in relief. --- ' ' '