Dave Sandford
One player the Florida Panthers have missed considerably this season is winger David Booth, who has played all of nine games this season due to dealing with a concussion. Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said today that Booth started skating at Michigan State University yesterday as part of his recovery.
"The good thing for him is he's skating 30, 40, 45, 50 minutes," DeBoer said. "This was the alternative rather than to leave him at home [while the Panthers are on the road]and to continue to ramp up his workout. I think it's a step in the right direction."
Booth has a skating coach he works out with in the summer at Michigan State, his alma mater, and suggested that doing so while Florida was on its road trip through eastern Canada would help.
"He brought it to our attention, I liked the idea and that's what we went with," DeBoer said.
DeBoer compared his team playing without Booth to the Leafs earlier struggles - one win in 12 games - without Phil Kessel in the lineup. Booth had 31 goals in 72 games last season in a breakthrough campaign and was expected to be a big part of the Americans team at the 2010 Olympics.