Changes are coming to the Florida Panthers.

The team will introduce Stuart Siegel and Cliff Viner as co-managing partners of the hockey club at a news conference in Sunrise on Monday afternoon. Siegel and Viner are minority investors but will team up to take controlling interest from Alan Cohen.

Siegel and Viner are self-professed hockey nuts. Siegel played collegiately at Pennsylvania, and he still plays regularly -- so much so, Siegel's large hockey bag is almost as permanent a piece of his BMW's interior as the floor mats. Like Siegel, Viner also graduated from Penn and also received his MBA from the Wharton School of Finance.

Both hope to restore the Panthers' image on and off the ice.

``They are very passionate about the sport and about our team,'' said defenseman Keith Ballard. ``From what they have said, they are committed to making us a better team. It's good that things are settled now. It's one less thing to worry about whether you are signed here for one year or eight.''

Cohen led a group of investors to buy the team from Wayne Huizenga's Boca Resorts in 2001. Since then, the team hasn't made the playoffs and is said to be losing an average of $10 million per season. A recent Forbes report said the Panthers lost close to $14 million last season -- second only to the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Siegel-Viner ownership group won't be without the reclusive Cohen, however, as he will remain a major partner. This current deal, which still needs league approval, will see Cohen keep about 25 percent of the team.

NO MORE RUMORS

The news of the change has been rumored for weeks, but for the players and coaches, they are happy the days of rumors and questions are over.

``It hasn't been an issue, but I'm glad it's over,'' said coach Pete DeBoer, the sixth coach to serve under Cohen and 10th in franchise history. ``I think long term, for the organization, you are looking for stability. A plan, everyone on the same page moving forward. That's critical for any organization or business.''

For many of the players, the ownership rumors meant little. Naturally, the topic appealed to some players who worried about the franchise's financial health, and others didn't concern themselves with the rumors. Their job was to play hockey; someone would sign the checks, be it Cohen or someone else.

``That's the business side of the game,'' said defenseman Jordan Leopold, who signed with the team in July as the team's ownership issues were in question. ``You read about it in the paper here or there, but you don't think about it that much. In a different market it might be different, like the Phoenix situation or a team in Canada. You would read about it every day.''

HIGH SPENDING

Cohen had grown distraught with the team's financial losses as well as those on the ice. Since the end of the lockout in 2005, Cohen has spent above the league average on salaries, and Florida's current payroll is around $3 million short of the salary cap.

Cohen never liked how he was portrayed by many fans as being cheap as the team continually operated in the red -- losses covered mostly by Cohen. This past summer he compared his team's finances unfavorably to those of the bankrupt Coyotes and later entered into talks to sell the team. A public company was in negotiations to buy the team, but the deal fell through for myriad reasons.

That's when Viner and Siegel stepped in to become bigger players. Both are more open and outgoing than Cohen, a private businessman who didn't like the public spotlight of owning a professional sports team. Cohen didn't like being interviewed on the record by local media but would at times meet with season-ticket holders in town hall-style meetings.

Cohen hasn't been seen much around the team at all this season, and he emptied out his office at the team's Sunrise arena over the summer.

When the team's dignitaries were invited to the U.S. Embassy in Finland, it was Siegel and Viner representing the team as Cohen skipped the season-opening trip in Europe.

Siegel has served as the director of Sunrise Sports & Entertainment since July 2008 and also heads the team's charitable foundation.