30 teams in 30 days: Florida Panthers
Finished: 9th eastern conference
Leading scorers: Stephen Weiss 61, David Booth 60, Cory Stillman 49, Nathan Horton 45
Who did they add?: Scott Clemmensen, Ville Koistinen, Jordan Leopold
Who did they lose?: Jay Bouwmeester, Karlis Skrastins, Craig Anderson, Nick Boynton
Overview: The 2008-09 season saw the Panthers perform admirably, missing the playoffs by a hairsbreadth. They finally proved that they can compete in the eastern conference, and missed the playoffs by 15 goals, tying the Montreal Canadiens in points but losing out in the goal department. Florida has a solid group of forwards, led by Nathan Horton, Steven Weiss, and David Booth, who came out of hiding last year, quietly leading the Panthers in goals with 31. The Panthers forwards are all mostly defensive forwards though, and don’t have much offensive punch. The defense for the Panthers is weaker now that JBO is gone, but is still solid, with McCabe and Leopold leading and Bryan Allen and Keith Ballard adding depth behind them. The goaltending is relatively the same as last year, with Clemmensen replacing Craig Anderson, but Vokoun still holding down the starting job. The Panthers will be looking to build on last season’s success, but it is hard to imagine them repeating it. A weaker team all around, they will need all aspects of their game to perform at very high levels for them to succeed. If not, look for them to finish around the bottom of the table.
Winners or losers?: The Panthers are losers this offseason. They ridded themselves of one of the NHL’s elite defenseman and didn’t get much in return. They need an offensive presence in their lineup to help with scoring, as the Panthers do not do much of this as they are right now.
