Season Preview: Florida Panthers
Major Additions: Tomas Vokoun, Brett McLean, Richard Zednik, Radek Dvorak
Major Subtractions: Alex Auld, Martin Gelinas, Gary Roberts, Joe Niewendyk
Analysis
The addition of Vokoun, acquired at the entry draft for nothing but draft picks, rivals the re-signing of restricted free agent Stephen Weiss for the best moves made by the Panthers over the summer.
Florida missed the playoffs by 6 points but played very well down the stretch, even after the trade deadline that saw veteran Gary Roberts moved in what normally signals a team “giving up.”
The bad news is virtually nothing remains of the trade that saw All-Star netminder Roberto Luongo depart town. The good news is that the team retains several young players with superstar potential, notably the aforementioned Weiss but perhaps more importantly defenceman Jay Bouwmeester - expect to see the impending RFA resigned sometime this season, by the way. If the Buffalo Sabres have done nothing else this summer, you can bet they’ve taught the GM’s of the league the danger of leaving top RFA’s unprotected.
I don’t see enough veteran leadership on this team for them to make much noise in the playoffs but I can certainly see them picking up some playoff experience before the hockey year is up. One thing that may scare potential first round opponents: the Panthers currently sit at about $42 million in payroll, giving them ample room to pick up some extra help if they decide to.