Welcome back to the exclusive LBC series featuring every player to lace up his skates and don Florida’s colors. For full disclosure about how this list was made, click here.
Yesterday, we checked in with two forwards who joined the Panthers at the end of long NHL careers. center Cory Stillman (165 games, 39 goals, 70 assists), and right winger Jozef Stumpel (199 games, 45 goals, 84 assists). In today’s special weekend edition, we’ll cover two left wingers, a Canadian and a Swede.
To continue with our offseason-long odyssey, follow the jump below.
36. Dave Lowry
Lowry was a 6’1 left winger with the OHL London Knights starting in 1982-83 (42 games, 11 goals, 16 assists). After the season, he was picked up by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round of the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, 110th overall. He would play two more seasons with the Knights (127 games, 89 goals, 107 assists) before making the jump to the pros.
Lowry spent three most of three seasons with the Canucks starting in 1985-86 (165 games, 19 goals, 21 assists). He was traded to the St. Louis Blues for Ernie Vargas just before the 1998-89 season got underway. In parts of five NHL seasons with the Blues, he played 311 games, scoring 53 goals and 51 assists while with the franchise.
Left unprotected, Lowry was claimed by the Panthers in the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft, joining the first version of the club. He played in a team fourth best 80 games, totalling 15 goals on 122 shots, along with 22 assists. On February 12, he scored two goals and an assist in a 4-3 Panthers victory over the New York Islanders. He went minus-4 on the season with 64 penalty minutes.
In 1994-95, Lowry played in 45 games for Florida, missing only three games of the strike-abbreviated 48 game schedule. He ranked fourth on the Panthers with 10 goals on 70 shots, pitched in 10 assists, and finished at minus-3 with 25 penalty minutes. He scored two goals in a 4-4 tie with the Hartford Whalers on March 29.
1995-96 would see Lowry score 10 goals on 83 shots for the eventual Eastern Conference Champion Panthers. He was limited by injuries to 63 games that season, but still managed to make 14 assists, 36 penalty minutes, and a minus-2 rating. In 22 playoff games, he led the Panthers with 10 goals (including two game winners) and 17 points.
Lowry appeared in 77 games for the 1996-97 Panthers, scoring a team fourth best 15 goals on 96 shots along with 14 assists. He spent 51 minutes in the box and finished the season with a minus-2 rating. He went scoreless in seven games with the Panthers the following season before getting traded to the San Jose Sharks on November 13 with a first round pick (Vincent LeCavalier) for Viktor Kozlov and a fifth round pick (Jaroslav Spacek).
After parts of three seasons with the Sharks (143 games, 11 goals, 17 assists), Lowry went on to play with the Calgary Flames (193 games, 31 goals, 38 assists). After retirement, he went into the coaching ranks, and is currently the head man with the WHL Victoria Royals.
All-Time Statline: Five seasons, 272 games, 50 goals, 60 assists, 110 points, minus-8 rating, 178 PIM, 10.7 APS.
35. Johan Garpenlov
Garpenlov was originally chosen in the fifth round of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings with the 85th overall pick. At the time, he was a 5’11” left winger from Stockholm, Sweden wth Djurgardens IF Stockholm in the Swedish Elite League. Instead of coming over to North America after the draft, he spent the next four seasons with the Swedish team (134 games, 45 goals, 51 assists).
Garpenlov finally joined the Red Wings for the 1990-91 season (71 games, 18 goals, 22 assists). The following season, he was bounced his way back and forth between Detroit (16 games, one goal, one assist) and their AHL counterpart in Adirondack (nine games, three goals, three assists) through the first part of the season. He was traded on March 9, 1992 to the San Jose Sharks for Bob McGill and an eighth round pick (C.J. Denomme).
Garpenlov played with San Jose for parts of four seasons (184 games, 46 goals, 86 assists). The Sharks traded him to the Panthers on March 3, 1995 for a fifth round pick (Jaroslav Špaček). He scored two goals on April 24 in a 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators. In 27 games to close out the season, he scored three goals on 28 shots and dished out nine assists. He finished the season with a plus-4 rating and zero penalty minutes.
1995-96 would see Garpenlov score a career high 23 goals on 130 shots while appearing in all 82 Panthers games. He had 28 assists to rank fourth on the Panthers with 51 points. He had 11 multi-point games, including a hat trick on January 23 in a 5-4 Florida victory. He finished with 36 minutes in the box and a minus-10 rating. In 20 playoff games, he added four goals and two assists for the Eastern Conference Champions.
In 1996-97, Garpenlov appeared in 53 contests. He scored a goal and two assists in a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 9. In total, he scored 11 goals on 83 shots with 25 assists, a plus-10 rating and 47 penalty minutes. He added two goals in four playoff games as the Panthers were ousted from the Stanley Cup Playoffs four games to one by the New York Rangers.
Garpenlov was limited by injury in 1997-98 to only 39 games. He scored twice on 43 shots and pitched in with three assists. The following season was marginally better, as he scored eight times on 71 shots in just under 14 minutes per contest, adding nine assists. After the 1998-99 season, he was claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers in the Expansion Draft.
Garpenlov played one season with Atlanta (73 games, two goals, 14 assists). He rejoined Djurgardens IF Stockholm for the 2000-01 campaign (29 games, eight goals, seven assists), retiring from professional hockey after the season. He is currently a general manager with the Swedish National Team.
All-Time Statline: Five seasons, 265 games, 47 goals, 74 assists, 121 points, minus-11 rating, 133 PIM, 10.9 APS.
Thanks for stopping by for a little history today. Make sure to check back tomorrow for two more Panthers. A defenseman from Saskatchewan and another from Czechoslovakia.