2009-10 NHL Season Preview: Florida Panthers

by James Mirtle on Sep 19, 2009 3:00 PM CDT Comment 3 comments

Who's in: Scott Clemmensen, Ville Koistinen, Jordan Leopold, Dennis Seidenberg, Steven Reinprecht
Who's out: Craig Anderson, Jay Bouwmeester, Nick Boynton, Jassen Cullimore, Steve Eminger, Brett McLean, Ville Peltonen, Karlis Skrastins, Richard Zednik

Outlook: Life After Jay begins this fall in Florida.

The Panthers swapped out the rights to Jay Bouwmeester to Calgary for a third-rounder and Jordan Leopold, who signed on for a reasonable one-year deal and joins what will likely be a significantly weaker blueline minus a host of serviceable bodies.

Left to man the fort on the backend will be Bryan McCabe, Keith Ballard, Leopold and Bryan Allen, a group that can't reasonably be expected to improve on the team's 17^th place finish in goals against last season. Also troubling on that front is the loss of steady backup Craig Anderson to Colorado via free agency, as his replacement Scott Clemmensen will see far more rubber in his starts than he did last season in New Jersey.

Adding to the exodus was the loss of GM Jacques Martin, who was wooed away to coach the Habs, and his replacement is still yet to be named as the team quietly went through an unsuccessful sale process over the summer.

Where there's reason for optimism is in the goal-scoring department, as Florida finished 17^th last season with one of the league's worst power plays, and there's enough burgeoning firepower here to make the Panthers one of the Eastern Conference's higher scoring teams in the coming seasons. More should be expected from Cory Stillman (who was on pace for 65 points last season), Nathan Horton, Michael Frolik, Rostislav Olesz and newcomer Steve Reinprecht — all relatively unheralded players who nonetheless will be able to hit the 50-point mark. Stephen Weiss and David Booth will go higher than that.

With another strong campaign from Tomas Vokoun in goal, the Panthers are probably, once again, a bubble team.

X-factor: Keith Ballard

For a more in-depth Panthers preview, visit The Litter Box
For more NHL analysis, check out the McKeen's Hockey Yearbook

Poll

Where will the Panthers finish in the Eastern Conference this season?

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184 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Well, it’ll be interesting to see Leopold and Ballard back together. I don’t know that I can figure out anything else to say about this team.

by J. Michael Neal on Sep 19, 2009 3:32 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Might be in the minority here, but...

I truly believe that the Panthers will make the playoffs this season for they do have a lot of firepower up front to go along with a dependable defence corps. Vokoun and Clemmensen also gives the Panthers solid netminding which will be key if they’re to make the post-season. Like what the Panthers have done to go along with their unheralded young head boss Pete DeBoer. Might be the suprise team in the East.

It's never about the eventual destination, but rather the long journey and its challenging obstacles that are presented and what it takes to overcome them, that makes the taste of success all the more worthwhile!!!

by hawks61 on Sep 19, 2009 11:02 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs