Hello all!

I wanted to give everyone an update about the state of the blog before this post! I’m still alive and existing, just incredibly occupied with University. I still plan on writing posts every now and then, especially as the season starts and news picks up; however, with the off-season being so sparse of news, especially for us small market teams, I figured I would lay low and get my schoolwork started before I returned to blogging.

With that being said, lets talk about PTO Contracts!

This past week the Panthers announced that they signed Left-Wingers David Booth and Martin Havlat to Professional Tryout Out (PTO) contracts. David Booth has history with the Panthers organization as he debuted with the team as a 22-year old in 2006 and had a 30-goal campaign in 2009, the last 30-goal season for any player as a Panther. Since his flashes of brilliance with the cats Booth has battled injury and consistency issues with Vancouver and Toronto scoring only 64 points in 193 games.

To read more about Booth’s history with the Panthers head over to my article about the history of important Ex-Panthers

Havlat has no history with the Panthers, but was teammates with Jaromir Jagr in New Jersey. The Czech forward was in Chicago during Florida GM Dale Tallon’s stint there. A 6 time 20+ goal scorer, 34-year old Havlat has fallen on hard times as well due to injuries and general decline from aging. He has not played more than 50 games in a season since the 2010-11 season.

Both of these forwards signed PTO contracts and hope to make the Panther’s opening day roster out of training camp and would play depth roles if added on at all. Here’s what it means for the future roster of the team in the long term:

Nothing.

Okay maybe not nothing, but Tallon has made it clear that he wants the team to get younger and that’s a promise he intends to keep. Between not resigning forwards Scottie Upshall and Tomas Kopecky and buying out Brad Boyes, all signs point to opening up roster spots for younger players like Lawson Crouse, Quinton Howden, Vincent Trocheck, and/or Garrett Wilson.

At face value, however, these PTO signings seem to directly contradict that. The Panthers are bringing in players of the same age as the players that just left and it makes no sense. However, if we think more critically we can perhaps see some of Dale’s rationale.

While Dale has interest in making the team younger he isn’t going to give jobs to players who haven’t earned them. While some young players will undoubtedly make the team, there is still intense competition for spots. This competition is partly meant to push the young players harder, but also to see if they are ready in the first place.

#FlaPanthers Dale Tallon says PTOs Havlat and Booth will bring strong competition to camp; team not just handing jobs to the kids. — George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) September 11, 2015

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Many people like to complain when troubled players like Havlat and Booth get a PTO contracts

But the competition adds depth in training camp. These PTO players are still professionals and creates a good atmosphere of competition in training camp. It also prevents those young players from potentially being rushed into the NHL before they are ready. Hockey is very much a mental game, and a player whose confidence is sapped by a bad rookie campaign often fails to develop. Tallon definitely wants to safeguard the development of some of his highly touted prospects as well as put the best possible team on the ice come October.

On a personal note I remember David Booth very fondly and he was a great Panther. I really hope he succeeds and plays well for the Panthers like he has in the past.

Training camp and Rookie Camp will be a ton of fun, and hopefully a successful training camp and preseason bloom into a playoff season! Only time will tell, and until that time all that we can do is paint the pre-training camp picture and set expectations for the cats.

Updates from Rookie Tournament coming after the games tomorrow!