Biggest one day loss since 2001. Historic sell-off. Downright brutal.

I’m referring of course to the actions of the Florida Panthers yesterday. The Panthers traded Todd Bertuzzi to the Red Wings for two conditional draft picks and a forward I’ve never heard of. Just plain ugly in my opinion (not that I’m a fan of Bertuzzi, for the record, but I’m concerned that he could hurt the chances of my beloved Canucks in their playoff run now that he’ll be playing in the same conference).

Oh, and the markets had a pretty hideous day too. The Dow recorded its biggest decline since 9/11/2001, and the TSX suffered its largest drop in nearly three years. This isn’t as alarming to me, however, as the Bertuzzi trade. Sell-offs happen. It’s part of investing. I’ve seen it before and I’ll see it again. It’s not going to damage my portfolio over the long run.

I find it amusing to read the financial headlines and commentaries on days like these. You get a full spectrum of opinions, from the alarmists to the level-headed to the optimists:

“There’s not even a flight to quality into gold or the Swiss franc, which tells me that we’re closer to the beginning than to the end of this.” – Stephen Sachs, Head of Trading at Rydex Investments (taken from cbsmarketwatch.com)

“There seems to be just an air of nothing is safe anymore, there’s nowhere to go and people are rotating into bonds as a safe haven.” – Andre Bakhos, President of Princeton Financial Group (taken from reuters.com)

“We’ll probably see a decline of about 4 or 5 percent and then it will be done.” – Harry Clark, CEO of Clark Capital Management (taken from cnn.com)

“These things happen. You have to look at days like this as an opportunity. That’s our line of thinking.” – Ted Parrish, co-manager of the Henssler Equity Fund (taken from cnn.com)

So who are you supposed to listen to and what are you supposed to do? Clearly, the consensus is that there is no consensus. It’s not a time to look for answers to long-term questions based on what you may read or hear on a day of frantic trading. You’ll hear a different opinion from everyone, so take them with a grain of salt. Here’s mine: the Dow, TSX, S&P 500 and every other major market have had long histories of winning records, with some hiccups along the way. There’s no reason to think this will change. The same can’t be said for the Canucks. So focus your concern where it’s needed most – healthy goaltending and a productive third line down the stretch.