2012 Projections: Florida

When the Florida Panthers season was completed, long before the playoffs had ended, I looked at the team's outlook and they didn't have much in the cupboard to talk about.  Only nine players were listed on their team table and they had a number of free agents and a fair bit of cap space to work with, so GM Dale Tallon went to work and arguably did rather well with the freedom he had to work with.

The Panthers have all sorts of new players on the roster, a few veterans, a little bit of youth added and it's a whole new game for this team going into the 2012 season.  It's really hard to even contemplate what the sum of all these parts will make, but it will definitely be interesting to see how it all falls into place.

It's generally so hard to get a read on a team that has been completely overhauled, so it would be wise to be safe rather than sorry.  There is a good combination of talent on paper, so it might be wise to acknowledge the less risky players, possibly give them some more confident numbers, while the risky players, you would project what you would feel comfortable with in your expectations.

Forwards		Defense		Goalies
Stephen Weiss	55	Brian Campbell	40	Jose Theodore	45
David Booth	50	Dimitri Kulikov	30	Scott Clemmensen	25
Kris Versteeg	45	Ed Jovanovski	25
Tomas Fleischmann	45	Jason Garrison	15
Mike Santorelli	40	Keaton Ellerby	15
Tomas Kopecky	35	Mike Weaver	10
Sean Bergenheim	35
Marcel Goc	35
Scottie Upshall	30
Evgeni Dadonov	30
Jack Skille	25
Ryan Carter	15
Matt Bradley	5
Michal Repik	15	Erik Gudbranson	25

Pool Worthy Forwards (Inside the top 160, 40 points)
Frankly speaking, I'm not seeing a great deal of catalyst players on this Florida team to really get excited about things.  Stephen Weiss has never quite come to grips with being a top line centre, David Booth has only shown flashes of top line talent (before getting most of it knocked out of him) and everyone below those two have been known more as support players than the guys that drive the bus.

This will be a year for the foundation to be set, especially since there was so many new faces brought into the team, it will be a year of trying to find who plays well with whom, making adjustments on the way.  I think most of the totals that you see on the table are somewhat conservative, but they almost have to be, given the situation that they are in.

If anyone on that list was going to make the jump up a little bit higher, in my opinion, it would Tomas Fleischmann.  He knows the Eastern Conference, having played with the Capitals, and he has a lot of pop in his game, which the Panthers could desperately use, especially early on.

Pool Worthy Defensemen (Inside the top 80, 25 points)
On defense, a lot of the offense or defensive zone breakouts will be coming from either Brian Campbell or Dimitri Kulikov, neither of which are bad choices to have as your outlet player from the back end.  If anything, these will be the players that will ensure that the forwards will likely get off to some good starts to help make their projected point totals throughout the season.

Ed Jovanovski, in his return to the Panthers, will be bringing some significant size to the table, which will go a long way in protecting the team's goaltending.  Jovanovski should also be considered to be a good depth defenseman for your pool team this year, as he is still able to help out an offense.  His points may be limited by the forwards he has in front of him though.

Pool Worthy Goalies (Inside the top 40, 25 points)
I'm getting the feeling that it could be a long year in the crease for the Panthers, as they fell victim to a free agent market that wasn't deep in goaltending.  The best goalie that was on the market, just left the team and there was no way they were getting Tomas Vokoun back.

Instead, it will be a combination of Jose Theodore and Scott Clemmensen, not exactly a combination that strikes fear into the opponent (or so I would believe).  Theodore put up some okay numbers in Washington, behind a stacked offense a couple of seasons ago, but ended up as a back-up in Minnesota in 2011.  Clemmensen was Vokoun's back-up in 2011 and it has been a couple of seasons since he helped the Devils deal without Martin Brodeur.

Pool Worthy Rookies
One of the saving graces to the Panthers' season will be the possibility of seeing both defenseman Erik Gudbranson and goaltender Jacob Markstrom dress for the team, both of which are highly touted prospects that are on the verge of making some noise for this team.

With a spot in the top four theoretically available, Gudbranson has the opportunity to jump into the fray and become an everyday NHL defenseman and that has to be exciting for the club.

Markstrom will also likely find an opportunity, if the season goes as topsy-turvy as it looks, as both Theodore and Clemmensen might need a rest or the coaching staff may just feel that Markstrom would benefit most from minutes on a sub-par team.  Either way, Markstrom will be the number one priority for minutes, whether it is in the minors or in the bigs with the Panthers.

Key Injuries
None.