We're into the second half of the hockey season, and the push for the playoffs begin!

Florida Panthers Preview

Written by: Jesse Michael on 13th September 2009

Florida Panthers Preview | read this item

Last Season
Record	41-30-11
Points	93
Conference	9^th
League	14th
Offense	2.82 GPG (17st)
Defence	2.72 GAA (10th)
Power Play	16.6% (24th)
Penalty Kill	82.6% (9th)
Points leader	Stephen Weiss – 61
Goals	David Booth – 31

Team Facts
GM	None
Coach	Peter DeBoer
Arena	BankAtlantic Center
Capacity	19,250
08/09 attendance	15621 (24th)
AHL Affiliate	Rochester

Departures
Jay Bouwmeester, Craig Anderson, Karlis Skrastins, Brett McLean, Jassen Cullimore, Nick Boynton, Richard Zednik, Ville Peltonen, Anthony Stewart, Stefan Meyer

Arrivals
Steven Reinprecht, Jeff Taffe, Jordan Leopold, Ville Koistinen, Clay Wilson, Scott Clemmensen

Forwards
With Richard Zednik off to the KHL, and youngsters Brett McLean and Anthony Stewart off to pursue other opportunities, there will be a few spots available on the Panthers forward lines that need to be filled in a big way. They brought in Steven Reinprecht from Phoenix, mostly for his defensive prowess, leadership, and his ability to score 40-45 points. With David Booth coming off a career high 31 goal campaign, and a brand new contract, the brunt of the scoring will be on him, Stephen Weiss, and Nathan Horton. Rookies Shawn Matthias – won a world junior gold with Canada in 2007-08 – and Michal Repik will be given major chances to crack this year’s lineup.

Defenseman
The major blow to this Panthers team was the loss of Jay Bouwmeester to Calgary. Coming the other way was Jordan Leopold, who will look to fill a bit of the shoes Bouwmeester left on the team. The majority of the work will go to Keith Ballard, Bryan McCabe, and Bryan Allen. All of these guys will have to play out of their minds in order to come close to making the playoffs.

Goalies
Another major blow to this year’s team was the loss of Craig Anderson. He came in and tried to single handily take the Panthers to the playoffs, stealing the starters job away from Tomas Vokoun. Now that Anderson is off to Colorado, the battle for the starting job is on with Vokoun and free-agent signee Scott Clemmensen. Clemmensen is deserving of the starting job after what he’s done the past two seasons; however Vokoun is a proven starter. Both of these guys will give solid stability in the Panthers goal all season.

Strengths
- The coming out party of Booth last season should only be a step in the right direction. Many are counting on Booth to lead the Panthers in scoring once again, and to improve on his 31 goal output from last year.

- The combination of Vokoun and Clemmensen should prove to be healthy competition and give solid stability in the Panthers goal all season.

Weaknesses
- They had the 24^th ranked powerplay in the league with Bouwmeester in their lineup. Now that he’s gone, don’t expect it to be any better this year….unless Bryan McCabe can return to his old form.

- A lack of scoring punch only got weakened with Zednik running off to the KHL. Reinprecht was brought in to help on the defensive side, and might not be too much help on the offensive side.

Analysis
In the end, it’s going to be a long year for the Panthers. It remains to be seen if they’ll be able to recover from the Jay Bouwmeester hangover, and if they can’t, then bye-bye playoff chances. Tomas Vokoun took a step back in goal last season, and Scott Clemmensen might be forced into action earlier than expected. If the young kids on forward can step up and score then they will be competitive, but should be on the outside looking in come the end of the season.

Prediction: 14^th in East

Topics: 2009/10 preview, Bryan McCabe, Craig Anderson, David Booth, Florida Panthers, Florida Panthers preview, Jay Bouwmeester, NHL, NHL 2009/10 season, NHL Predictions, NHL Preview, Richard Zednik, Scott Clemmensen, Steven Reinprecht, Tomas Vokoun