The Florida Panthers have announced that the club has invited forward David Booth to camp on a player tryout.
#FlaPanthers invite @D_Booth7 to 2015 Training Camp on a PTO –> http://t.co/jeI1QmbmgV pic.twitter.com/wo5LdWdUB6
— Florida Panthers PR (@FlaPanthersPR) September 9, 2015
Booth had the best seasons of his career with Florida in the late 2000’s, with his best coming in 2008-09 when the 30-year-old scored 31 goals. After dealing with a variety of injuries, he’s never been the goal scorer he once was in his Panthers heyday.
The 2014-15 season was a rebuilding year for the winger. Booth signed a one-year deal with the Leafs, and despite only scoring seven goals and 13 points the entire season, he had a very solid season. While he logged fourth-line minutes for the first three months of the season, Booth had a fantastic March, scoring six goals in the month while playing top-six minutes. While his production hasn’t been what it once was, Booth has had a great impact on his teammates possession games over the last three seasons.
Booth’s chances of making the team aren’t great, but the Panthers could use another bottom-six winger who can actually play, opposed to using a face-smasher like Shawn Thornton who doesn’t do all that much aside from take penalties.
Florida remains masters of player tryouts, as over the last few years they’ve gotten effective players in Brad Boyes, Tom Gilbert and Tim Thomas on those type of deals. This move may not have the impact those ones did, but it’s another low-risk move by the Panthers.
