Panthers Off to Helsinki

The Panthers are taking off for Helsinki today, as they'll open their NHL campaign with a home & home set of games against the Blackhawks. Their roster is almost set and by my count, they will be bringing 28 players with them to Finland, which includes a couple players that are without contracts. Dimitri Kulikov, the Panthers first round pick this summer, hasn't signed his entry-level deal quite yet, but he will be approaching that decision quite soon. Christian Backman, an unrestricted free agent defenseman, was invited to Panthers camp and will get an extra look or two before his fate is to be decided.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Stephen Weiss	Bryan McCabe	Tomas Vokoun
David Booth	Keith Ballard	Scott Clemmensen
Cory Stillman	Dennis Seidenberg	Alexander Semak
Nathan Horton	Jordan Leopold
Michael Frolik	Ville Koistinen
Steve Reinprecht	Christian Backman**
Radek Dvorak	Bryan Allen
Gregory Campbell	Jason Garrison
Kamil Kreps	Rory Fitzpatrick
Rostislav Olesz	Dimitri Kulikov**
Nick Tarnasky
Michal Repik
Shawn Matthias
Jeff Taffe
Mike Duco

Of course, the most notable additions to the Panthers in this off-season have been Steve Reinprecht, Jordan Leopold, Dennis Seidenberg and Scott Clemmensen and they'll be looking to improve upon a team that missed the playoffs due to a tie-breaker. Bryan Allen and Rostislav Olesz (pictured) are coming off of injury-shortened seasons and they should be ready to go for October 2nd. There are plenty of positives to build from for the Panthers and they have the tools to do the job. We'll just have to see how the 82 games play out for them.

The 26 signed players on the Panthers come in underneath the salary cap ceiling at $55.2 million, so when the team decides whether or not to sign Kulikov and Backman, plus cut the remaining three, they will be well below the cap. This is definitely good news for the team, which is still thought to be more of a cap budget team, rather than a cap ceiling team. It will be interesting to see how the opening line-up will form with the squad that's going over there and how they'll match up against the Blackhawks.

There could be more value in keeper players than there is in players for the 2010 season. I like Michal Repik and Shawn Matthias, but I have a feeling that they won't blow anyone away this season. Look for the top four forwards and top four defensemen to go in your draft without hesitation and keep a close eye on Steve Reinprecht, as he could be a little bit of a sleeper, tucked away with the Panthers.