• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Panthers begin post-Jokinen era against Hurricanes

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:22 AM Florida (0-0-0) at Carolina (0-0-0), 7:00 pm EDT

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Florida Panthers will find out quickly how different life without Olli Jokinen will be.

Without the veteran center, the Panthers begin a new era as they drop the puck on the 2008-09 season against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

The franchise leader in both goals and points, Jokinen was the face of the Panthers before being traded to the Phoenix Coyotes on draft night in June. The 11-year veteran and team captain had 34 goals and 71 points last season, passing Scott Mellanby for first place in both categories.

Although he failed to end the Panthers' seven-year playoff drought, his efforts will be missed considering they boast just three players who scored 20 goals or more last season - Nathan Horton, David Booth and Cory Stillman.

First-year coach Peter DeBoer gets the benefit of an upgraded defense thanks to the additions of Bryan McCabe, Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton, all of whom will provide support for goaltender Tomas Vokoun.

The Panthers, who lost a league-high 25 games by one goal in 2007-08, also have Jay Bouwmeester, who netted 15 goals - fifth among all NHL blue-liners.

Carolina enters the campaign with bitter memories of a late-season collapse that gave the Washington Capitals the Southeast Division crown.

The Hurricanes led the division for all but two weeks last season and needed to win two of their final four games to clinch. But they went 1-3-0 and were eliminated from postseason contention.

They have reason to believe, however, as Eric Staal has emerged as one of the most potent scorers in the league. The 23-year-old recorded 38 goals and 44 assists in 82 games last season and helped the Hurricanes to an average of 3.05 tallies per game, which ranked fifth in the NHL.

Cam Ward, who helped lead Carolina to the Stanley Cup in 2006, went 35-25-5 with a 2.75 goals-against average in 69 games last season.

The Hurricanes own the fourth-worst winning percentage in regular-season openers at .339 (6-15-7), while the Panthers are 6-5-3.