Welcome back to today’s edition of LBC’s All-Time Florida Panthers Countdown. If you need to know how this whole thing works, click here for the details.
If you didn’t tune in yesterday, we just recapped the Panthers careers of left wingers Alex Hicks and Tim Kennedy, right winger Ty Jones, defenseman Rocky Thompson, and goaltender Pokey Reddick. Today’s entry features two centers, a right winger, a left winger, and a defenseman.
If you’re interested, follow the jump for more.
239. Petr Tatíček
Taticek was a 6’3″ center from Rakovnik, Czechoslovakia. He was playing with the OHL Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds when drafted by Florida in the first round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, with the ninth overall pick. He would play one more season with the Greyhounds, totalling 33 goals and 87 assists in 114 games.
2003-04 and 2004-05 would see Taticek spend a total of 130 games with Florida’s AHL team, the San Antonio Rampage, scoring 11 goals and 30 assists.
Taticek started the 2005-06 season with the AHL Houston Aeros, scoring 30 points in 44 games before his first NHL callup in January. In three games with the Panthers, Taticek managed three shots on goal in 18 minutes of ice time, failing to impact the scoresheet in any other fashion. After being sent back to Houston, he was soon after traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ric Jackman. Pittsburgh kept him with their Wilkes-Barre AHL franchise for 17 games.
The Washington Capitals signed Taticek to a free agent contract for the 2006-07 season. Taticek played one game with the Hershey Bears before heading back to Czechoslovakia, with HC Rabat Kladno. He has spent the last six seasons with HC Davos of the Swiss National League.
All-Time Statline: One season, three games, zero goals, zero assists, zero points, even rating, zero PIM, 0.0 APS.
238. Paul Brousseau
Brousseau was a 6’2″ right winger from Pierrefonds, Quebec. He was skating with the Hull Olympiques of the QMJHL when drafted in the second round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Quebec Nordiques, with the 28th overall pick. In four QMJHL seasons, Brousseau scored 109 goals and 199 assists in 240 games.
Brousseau joined the AHL Cornwall Aces for the 1993-94 season spending most of the next three seasons with the club. He totalled 58 goals and 65 assists in 189 games. He enjoyed his first NHL callup in January, 1996 to the Colorado Avalanche, scoring one goal (against Florida) and one assist in eight games.
In the 1996 offseason, Brousseau signed a free agent contract for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He spent most of the next two seasons with the Adirondack Red Wings, but also totalled 17 NHL games during that time with Tampa Bay, logging 27 PIM along with two assists. He was left unprotected in the 1998 expansion draft, and was picked up by the Nashville Predators.
After one season with the Predators AHL team, the Hershey Bears, Brousseau signed a free agent contract with the Panthers prior to the 1999-00 season. Limited by a knee injury, he played 36 games with the AHL Louisville Panthers, scoring 43 points.
In 2000-01, Brousseau again started the season with Louisville, scoring 68 points in 73 games. He earned a callup to Florida in March to face the Columbus Blue Jackets, played for one minute and 39 seconds of ice time, then was sent back to Louisville. Florida lost the game, 7-6 in overtime.
After the season, Brousseau played the next three seasons in Finnish, Swedish, Swiss and German Leagues, retiring after the 2003-04 season.
All-Time Statline: One season, one game, zero goals, zero assists, zero points, even rating, zero PIM, 0.0 APS.
237. Patrick Rissmiller
Rissmiller was a 6’4″ left winger from Belmont, MA. He played four seasons of college hockey with College of the Holy Cross, scoring 53 goals and 90 assists in 131 games. After graduating in 2002, he signed a free agent contract with the AHL Cleveland Barons, scoring 14 goals and 26 assists in 72 games.
The San Jose Sharks showed interest during the 2003 offseason, signing him as a free agent. During 2003-04, he scored 45 points in 75 games with the Barons, making his NHL debut with the Sharks for four games in November.
With the 2004-05 NHL season cancelled, Rissmiller played the entire season with Cleveland, scoring 44 points in 69 games. He also played most of the 2005-06 season with the Barons, earning an extended look in San Jose in March. In 18 games he scored three goals on 26 shots with three assists. In the Sharks postseason run, he scored two goals with an assist.
Rissmiller spent the next two seasons as a Shark, scoring 15 goals and 24 assists over 158 NHL games, with a minus-7 and 52 penalty minutes. The New York Rangers signed him to a free agent contract during the 2008 offseason. After two games with the Rangers, he was reassigned to the AHL Hartford Wolfpack, scoring 54 points in 64 games.
After another minor league season, the Rangers packed him along with Donald Brashear to the Atlanta Thrashers for Todd White just prior to the 2010-11 season. He skated with the Thrashers for one game before Atlanta sent him back to the AHL. Florida sent Radek Dvorak to Atlanta for Rissmiller and Niclas Bergfors in February. Rissmiller played nine games with the Panthers, assisting one goal and posting an even rating. He spent the 2011-12 season with the Avalanche AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters.
All-Time Statline: One season, nine games, zero goals, one assist, one point, even rating, zero PIM, 0.0 APS.
236. Nolan Yonkman
Yonkman was a 6’6″ defenseman from Punnichy, Saskatchewan. He was with the WHL Kelowna Rockets when selected by the Washington Capitals in the second round of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, with the 37th overall pick. In four plus seasons with the Rockets, plus most of 2000-01 with the Brandon Wheat Kings, Yonkman totalled 12 goals and 26 assists with 431 PIM in 259 WHL games.
In 2001-02, Yonkman spent most of the season with the AHL Portland Pirates. He joined the Capitals for two games in January, later playing the last nine games of the season with the team. He scored his only career NHL goal on April 6th in a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders, finishing the season with a plus-3 rating and four PIM.
Yonkman spent most of the next three seasons dealing with an assortment of injuries, totalling 60 games with the Pirates, and scoring one goal with seven assists and 119 PIM. He played one NHL game during that time, skating for five minutes in a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on October 18, 2003.
Yonkman got most of his NHL experience with the Caps in 2005-06, playing 38 games, making seven assists with a plus-1 rating and 86 PIM. He signed on with the Nashville Predators during the 2006 offseason.
Yonkman never appeared with the Predators, playing 283 games over the next four seasons with the AHL Milwaukee Admirals. He put up eight goals and 31 assists with 466 PIM. He signed a free agent contract with the Phoenix Coyotes prior to the 2010-11 season.
The San Antonio Rampage were at the time the Coyotes AHL affiliate, and Yonkman spent the whole season there. He signed another free agent contract after the season, this time with the Panthers. Yonkman played 66 games with the Rampage through the season, scoring two goals with 11 assists and 102 penalty minutes. He made his Panthers debut on February 19th, skating nine shifts in a 2-0 Ducks victory. Yonkman is currently in the midst of the AHL playoffs, and has two assists through the first nine games.
All-Time Statline: One season, one game, zero goals, zero assists, zero points, even rating, zero PIM, 0.0 APS.
March 2, 2012- Catching Up With Strachan & Yonkman (via sarampage)
235. Mike Green
Green was a 5’11” center from Calgary with the WHL Kootenay Ice when signed as a free agent by Florida in 2000. In four WHL seasons (the first two with the Edmonton Ice), he totalled 93 goals and 122 assists in 218 games.
Green opened the 2000-01 season with the AHL Louisville Panthers, also skating with the US team and the UHL teams Port Huron Border Cats and the Knoxville Speed. 2001-02 was spent between the ECHL Macon Whoopee and the AHL Cincinnati Mighty Ducks.
2002-03 would see Green spend 80 games with the AHL San Antonio Rampage, scoring 26 goals and 34 assists. He opened the 2003-04 season with the Rampage, earning his first NHL action with the Panthers in February. In 11 games he posted one assist with an even rating and two PIM. Florida waived him in March, where he was claimed by the New York Rangers. He would finish the season in New York, scoring his only career NHL goal in his last NHL game, a 3-2 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals.
Green has since appeared in the German League with the Nurnberg Ice Tigers (2004-05), the Hannover Scorpions (2005-06, 2007-08) and the Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams (2008-09). He made one last appearance in the AHL, in 2006-07 between the Iowa Stars and the Hershey Bears.
All-Time Statline: One season, 11 games, zero goals, one assist, one point, even rating, two PIM, 0.0 APS.
Thanks for reading today’s entry. Check back tomorrow for four guys who combined for eight total Panther games and one who skated in 21. Please, leave comments, and vote!
Of these players, which failed to approach expectations as a Panther?
| Petr Taticek | 30 |
| Nolan Yonkman | 5 |
| Patrick Rissmiller | 3 |
| Paul Brousseau | 0 |
| Michael Green | 2 |