The Florida Panthers are coming off an offseason full of uncertainty. The Panthers officially began their preseason this week with 3 games north of the border in Canada against the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers and came away with 2 wins and a shoot out loss. But we all know the preseason doesn’t really mean anything and the Panthers will have a lot to prove when the regular season starts.

The Panthers made it clear in the offseason that their focus for the 2008/09 season was going to be fixing a defense that gave up the 2nd MOST goals in the NHL last year. Tomas Voukun needed help in front of him and the Panthers made sure to get it with their acquisitions of Bryan McCabe, Keith Ballard, and Nick Boynton. However, in so doing the team did weaken their offensive power by trading away leading goal scorer Olli Jokinen. McCabe and Ballard do have tremendous slap shots from the blue line and will chip in goals as offensive defensemen, but will it be enough to replace Jokinen’s past contributions?

The Panthers are pinning their hopes on young Nathan Horton (23) to take over as the teams leading scorer now that Jokinen has departed. Horton finished last season 2nd on the team, behind Jokinen, in goals/assists/points with 27/35/62. The question will be whether or not Horton can continue and even increase that output when everyone is looking to him to be the offensive leader?

The other major issue the Panthers will face this season involves new head coach Peter DeBoer. DeBoer comes to the Panthers from the Candian Junior Leagues where he was wildly successful, a Memorial Cup Trophy in 2003 and a finals appearance last season. That being said, the Canadian Junior Leagues are not on the level of the NHL so fans will be watching closely all season to see if DeBoer can do in the NHL what he did in Canada.

In the end, the new players and DeBoer are stepping into a situation with little pressure and low expectations. The Florida Panthers haven’t made the playoffs since the 1999/2000 season, nor have they finished better than 3rd in their own division since then. That being said, DeBoer has not stepped into a situation where he is expected to bring a Stanley Cup Trophy to South Florida. Horton closely matched the output of Jokinen last year, so the expectation for him to fill the void and be the leader is not an unreasonable one either. The Panthers have certainly assembled a formidable D on paper, and if the offense can be effective (and maybe even get some surprise help from young players) the Panthers could improve on their 3rd place finish last season.

The 2008 offseason saw lots of change for the Florida Panthers, but is it for the better or is it a step backward? The Panthers finished 38-35-9 last season and missed the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference by 9 points. After yet another season, the 7th in a row, that saw the Panthers miss the playoffs,  the team decided to make some moves this offseason to try and get a spark and turn things around in South Florida. The team made trades for 3 new defensemen, signed a new forward, and got a new head coach.

The Panthers’ biggest move in the offseason was trading center and captain Olli Jokinen to the Phoenix Coyotes. In return the Panthers received defensemen Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton. Both players are solid defensemen and Ballard in particular is a stellar pick up. Speaking from experience, Ballard is an exceptional defenseman. Ballard played hockey for 3 years at the University of Minnesota, and as a student there I watched him first hand as he developed. Ballard has only gotten better in the NHL. He is solid in defense and has a wicked slap shot from the blue line. Boynton is no slouch either and brings another solid body at the blue line and will assist the Panthers in rebuilding their D.

More recently the Panthers traded Mike Van Ryn to the Toronto Maple Leafs for veteran defenseman Bryan McCabe and a 2010 4th round pick. McCabe also brings a solid body to the defense of the Panthers. McCabe’s career blossomed in Toronto where he finished 4th in Norris Trophy (NHL’s Best Defenseman) voting after the 2003-2004 season and played for Team Canada in the 2006 Olympics. McCabe also brings a great blue line slap shot and a strong veteran presence.

In order to replace the production lost in trading Olli Jokinen (30+ goals/season) the Panthers signed free agent Cory Stillman. Stillman is capable of putting up 20+ goals/season and though he is no spring chicken, he does bring veteran leadership to the forward lines. Stillman has twice reached the Stanley Cup.

Last, and believe me not least, is the new head coach for the Panthers, Peter DeBoer. DeBoer comes to the Panthers from the Canadian Junior leagues where he coached for 13 years. In his 13 years in the Junior leagues DeBoer only had one losing season and led his teams to a 2003 Memorial Cup title and a finals appearance last season. Though this is DeBoer’s first NHL head coaching job, he brings experience nonetheless and will be very energetic.

The clear focus of the Panthers was to improve on a defense that allowed the 2nd most goals in the NHL last season, but lets just hope that those improvements didn’t come at the cost of an offense capable of using that great defense to reach the playoffs. It is going to be an interesting year, hold on for the ride!