In the biggest trade of this early season, the Florida Panthers have traded David Booth and Steven Reinprecht to the Vancouver Canucks in return for Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm along with a 3rd round draft pick in 2013. This was a difficult pill to swallow for Panthers fans, David Booth has always been a fan favorite, character guy and explosive player while in Florida, and it is unbelievably difficult to see him go. That said, I can't say it's a bad move for Dale Tallon; Mikael Samuelsson really turned a corner on his game after joining Vancouver a few years ago, and Marco Sturm may finally find some stability in Florida. The two forwards will be UFAs at the end of the season, but I doubt they will be difficult to resign if the Cats get their act together this season. Reinprecht was AHL bound and the 3rd rounder are both non-factors, so the trade seems pretty fair. Given Samuelsson's skill, he should easily replace Booth's numbers this season, perhaps without a -20 rating.

Let this trade sink in for a while, as we're all unhappy to see Booth go (I always pictured Booth as the face of the franchise), but we could be looking at an improvement for the roster. This trade levels up to the Michael Frolik trade, both had great scoring ability but had stretches where they were simply invisible, a characteristic that the new Panthers cant afford to harbor, especially through tough stretches early in the season. More from Nucks Misconduct here.