By Joel Smart (The Cascade) – Email
Date Posted: October 31, 2011
Print Edition: October 26, 2011
Twirling through the air, Nicklas Backstrom’s waterbottle tumbled to the ice behind the Minnesota Wild net, signaling the end of a hard-fought “nooner” against the Canucks – a game that Vancouver won 3-2 in the last seconds of overtime. Yet, despite the comeback victory, Vancouver fans would spend the rest of the day talking about something completely different – the loss of Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm, traded to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Steve Reinprecht, a third round 2013 draft pick, and the highlight of the trade, a 26-year-old winger who scored 31 goals in 2008-09: David Booth.
Currently a second-line centre, the six-foot 212-pound Booth has the potential to go either way; he could continue to falter this season as some suspect he will, or he could improve his game and take it to heights many predicted he would reach after he notched 60 points three seasons ago (and 40 the season before). Booth, who was selected by the Panthers in the second round of the 2004 Entry Draft (53 overall), also turned heads by winning gold in both the 2002 IIHF U18 and the 2004 World Junior Championships.
Yet, considering the Canucks gave up two pretty high quality players in the trade, the risk of bringing Booth onto the team is pretty substantial. He was a minus-31 last year, and he’s already a minus-six this year after just six games played with the Panthers. With three seasons left on a $4.25 million-per-season contract, Gillis is taking a major gamble in the belief that Booth has not yet peaked in his career.
Enter Ryan Kesler. A native of Detroit, Booth actually played minor hockey with Kesler, who grew up in the same area. The two remain friends, and the potential for the two of them to develop on-ice chemistry has Vancouver fans extremely excited. “Ryan knows him very well,” Mike Gillis told NHL.com. “We think if we can get him here and get him moving in the right direction he’ll embrace it.” It seems reasonable to assume that playing on the second line with Kesler and Chris Higgins will be Booth’s best chance of finding his game – he certainly hasn’t been playing with such high-calibre players in Florida.
Higgins certainly thinks it’ll be a good fit. “I think we’ll welcome David with open arms,” he told The Province. “I played with him in Florida a bit and he kind of reminds me of Kes with the way he can skate and how powerful he is.” That’s the kind of confidence you want to hear from your teammates. “I think he’ll be a great addition to the team,” Higgins continued, “because he’s a powerful, powerful skater and has a real strong body. He wins a lot of battles and has phenomenal speed with a great wrist shot. I think he’ll find his role on this team pretty quickly.” Although Booth is apparently quite distraught by the move, his first trade, due to the roots he had set in Florida, the silver-lining has to be that he’s got good history with his new linemates.
There is some concern, however, that Booth may simply never play the way he did before he suffered two concussions in five months. On October 24, 2009, Mike Richards knocked him out with a high hit; he had to be taken off the ice by stretcher. As a result he had to miss most of the season. Then, on March 25, 2010, Montreal Canadian Jaraslav Spacek knocked him unconscious again, just a month after he had returned. That proved to be the end of his 2009-10 season, with just 28 games played.
Time will tell if the trade was truly to the Canucks benefit or not, but it was not a whimsical decision by the Canucks – he has the potential to be the top-six power forward the team has been dreaming of. All that’s left now is to wait and see how it all unfolds.
