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LBC’s All Time Florida Panthers Roster Countdown: 90-88

Welcome back to the Florida Panthers offseason All-Time countdown, Chapter IL. For the details on the assembly of this list, click here.

Yesterday, we checked out D Brent Severyn (76 games, five goals, eight assists), D Dennis Wideman (61 games, nine goals 24 assists), and D Nick Boynton (68 games, five goals 16 assists). Today, we’ll get a look at a Latvian defenseman and two Canadians, a center from Edmonton and a 6’6″ defenseman from Ottawa.

For more, follow the jump.

90. Kārlis Skrastiņš

When selected, Skrastins was a 6’1″ defenseman from Riga, Latvia. The Nashville Predators chose him in the ninth round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft with the 230th overall pick. He spent most of his first North American season with the IHL Milwaukee Admirals (75 games, eight goals, 36 assists), appearing in two NHL contests in February. He would total 307 games with the Preds over his five Nashville seasons, collecting 13 goals and 41 assists. He played in all 82 games in each of his final three seasons with the club.

After the 2002-03 season, Skrastins was traded by the Predators to the Colorado Avalanche for a third round pick (Peter Regin). He would play in every game for the Avs through his first two seasons with the club, ultimately appearing in 275 games over parts of four seasons. He put up nine goals and 33 assists during his time in Colorado. He was traded to the Panthers on February 26 with a third round pick (Adam Comrie) for Ruslan Salei.

Skrastins finished out the 2007-08 season with Florida, averaging 20:03 TOI, scoring one goal on 11 shots (a game winner in a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders on March 12), and posting a minus-9 rating.

Skrastins opened the 2008-09 season on the second pairing for the Panthers, averaging 20:34 TOI in 80 contests. He would put 55 shots on net, lighting the lamp four times while collecting 14 assists. He also offset the prior seasons terrible rating with a plus-9, bringing him to even through his Panther career. He would sign on with the Dallas Stars after the season.

Karlis Skrastins goal versus Stars (via chiekurs16)

Skrastins played in 153 contests over two seasons with the Stars, scoring five goals with 16 assists, a minus-5 rating and 62 PIM. He lost his life on September 7, 2011 when the Yakovlev Yak-42 carrying his team crashed outside Yaroslavl, Russia. Only one of the 45 people on board survived, flight crew member Alexander Sizov.

All-Time Statline: Two seasons, 97 games, five goals, 14 assists, 19 points, even rating, 42 PIM, 4.1 APS.

89. Mike Wilson

Wilson was 6’6″ when the Vancouver Canucks selected him off the OHL Sudbury Wolves. The defenseman was chosen in the first round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft with the 20th overall pick. In three OHL seasons, he totalled 23 goals and 63 assists in 177 games. While still in juniors, the Canucks traded him to the Buffalo Sabres with Michael Peca and a first round pick for Alexander Mogilny and a fifth round pick.

Wilson made his professional debut with the 1995-96 Rochester Americans. In 15 AHL games he made five assists. The Sabres called him up in November, and he would spend the rest of the season in Buffalo, scoring four goals and eight assists in 58 games.

All told, Wilson spent parts of four seasons with the Sabres, totalling 11 goals and 23 assists in 231 games. Buffalo traded him to the Panthers on March 23, 1999 for Rhett Warrener and a fifth round pick (current Sabres starting netminder Ryan Miller). Wilson played in four Panthers games through the end of the season, finishing with eight shots on goal and a plus-2 rating.

In 1999-00, Wilson played in 60 contests for Florida, playing ATOI of 18:07. He posted a three point game on March 10, with a goal and two assists in a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. He totalled four goals on 65 shots along with 16 helpers and a plus-10 rating. He would go on to post a minus-5 rating in four playoff matches, a sweep at the hands of the New Jersey Devils.

2000-01 would see Wilson limited to 19 games by a shoulder injury suffered against the Devils on October 25. He took 26 shots on goal and made one assist playing in 13:20 per game with a minus-7 rating. The Pittsburgh Penguins signed him as a free agent after the season.

Wilson split 2001-02 between the Penguins (21 games, one goal, one assists, minus-12 rating) and the AHL Wilkes-Barre Scranton Pens (46 games, three goals, nine assists). He played in 2002-03 between the AHL Pens (45 games, four goals, five assists), the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack (five games, one goal, two assists), and the NHL New York Rangers (one game).

After spending 2003-04 with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons (45 games, three goals, eight assists), Wilson in 2005-06 went on to play in Norway with Storhamar Dragons Hamar (16 games, two assists), the Austrian Linz EHC (17 games, one goal, two assists), the Swiss EHC Basel (six games), and the Finnish Ilves Tampere (22 games, two goals, one assist).

Wilson briefly attempted a comeback with the ECHL Trenton Devils in 2008-09, scoring a goal and two assists in five games.

All-Time Statline: Three seasons, 83 games, four goals, 17 assists, 21 points, plus-5 rating, 60 PIM, 4.1 APS.

88. Steve Reinprecht

Reinprecht was an undrafted 6′ center from Edmonton. After scoring 59 goals and 77 assists in 95 AJHL games with the St. Albert Saints, he committed to the University of Wisconsin. After four seasons of collegiate hockey, he graduated with the Class of 2000 with 72 goals and 90 assists to his credit in 154 contests. After graduation, he signed a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Kings. He appeared in one NHL game at the end of the season.

After playing in parts of two seasons with the Kings (60 games, 12 goals, 17 assists, plus-11 rating), Reinprecht played in parts of three seasons with the Colorado Avalanche (165 games, 40 goals, 64 assists), parts of two seasons with the Calgary Flames (96 games, 17 goals, 41 assists), and parts of four with the Phoenix Coyotes (231 games, 51 goals, 92 assists). The Coyotes traded him to the Panthers after the 2008-09 season for Stefan Meyer.

2009-10 would see Reinprecht appear in all 82 Florida games, along with Keith Ballard, Bryan McCabe, and Micheal Frolik. He would average 16:05 TOI while centering the third and sometimes second line. He scored a hat trick in Dallas against the Stars on October 30, also collecting an assist on the night (see video), one of five games on the season in which he collected multiple points. He would score a team fourth-best 16 goals on 124 shots, his 12.9 shooting percentage second only to Stephen Weiss among players with over 25 shots. He also ranked fifth on the squad with 22 assists, finishing the season with a minus-1 rating.

Reinprecht Hat Trick vs Stars 10/30/2009 (via NHLWebCastHQ)

In 2010-11, Reinprecht played in 29 games for the Panthers with an ATOI of 11:46. He scored four times on 31 shots while making six assists. Florida loaned him to the Mannheim Eagles (18 games, four goals, nine assists) in the German Elite League on January 6.

After opening the 2011-12 season playing in five games with the San Antonio Rampage, Florida traded him to the Vancouver Canucks along with David Booth and a third round pick in next year’s draft for Marco Sturm and Mikael Samuelsson. He remained in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves, scoring 13 times with 30 helpers in 57 contests.

All-Time Statline: Two seasons, 111 games, 20 goals, 28 assists, 48 points, minus-3 rating, 24 PIM, 4.2 APS.

That’s it for today. Leave comments below, and check back tomorrow for a Swedish defenseman, a center from BC, and a Russian left winger.

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