Sunrise Sports & Entertainment on Friday formally introduced Peter Luukko as NHL Panthers Exec Chair, and he will be "involved in hockey decisions but will spend most of his time on the business side -- as he did with the Flyers," according to Sam Carchidi of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. The Panthers, who are last in the NHL in attendance, will "provide a challenge" for Luukko. He said, "The attendance is bad, the performance hasn't been good for years, but if you have a new owner who is committed to build it up, basically from scratch, I think it's a great challenge" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 2/7). In Miami, David Neal asked with the Panthers already having President & CEO Rory Babich and Exec VP & GM of Hockey Operations Dale Tallon in place, how does Luukko "see his job?" Luukko said, "My job is really to be the orchestra leader. It’ll be to work with everybody every day. So my days will be talking to Dale every day, Rory every day, the various staff members every day." Neal noted Luukko's November '13 resignation "shocked the Flyers organization." In interviews around the time of the resignation, he "talked about cashing out, selling his businesses and spending time with his family." That could be why he responded with "weary negativity" when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman mentioned Luukko "should meet with" Panthers Owner Vinnie Viola. Bettman did some "friendly bullying and cajoling, telling Luukko how similar Viola was" to him. Luukko said, “I wasn’t five minutes into the meeting and I saw what Gary was saying. The excitement, the commitment he shows. The refuse-to-lose attitude was incredibly infectious. I became very very excited. I began to realize how much I love hockey and missed being in the NHL" (MIAMI HERALD, 2/7).
