Vancouver Canucks Trade for David Booth to Add Secondary Scoring

If David Booth is a free agent in your hockey pool, pick him up immediately!  The Vancouver Canucks have dealt Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm to the Florida Panthers for Booth, Steve Reinprecht and a third-round draft pick in 2013, as reported by ESPN.  Once again the Canucks have made off like bandits in dealing with the Panthers.

Booth will play on the second line with Ryan Kesler and see time on the second power-play unit.  Booth and Kesler played minor hockey together so they know each other quite well; chemistry should happen pretty fast.  The other wing spot will bounce between Cody Hodgson and Chris Higgins.

Booth is off to a slow start with just one point in six games, but this change in scenery and playing with an elite center like Kesler will get his season back on track.  Booth is a proven goal scorer as he has scored 23, 31 and 22 goals in three of the last four seasons.  Booth’s best season was in 2008-2009, where he scored 31 goals and 60 points in 72 games. 

Booth does have a poor injury history.  He missed the majority of last season due to a concussion and has missed multiple games in the previous four seasons due to a variety of injuries (rib, shoulder, knee, neck and upper body).

Booth will have an immediate impact on the Canucks, and if you can scoop him up now do it!

Samuelsson should help the Panthers but will now play with the same calibre of players that he did with Vancouver.   Samuelsson will bounce between the second and third line, depending on his scoring streak at the time.  Samuelsson is a very inconsistent scorer, so pay attention when he starts to score as he will stay hot for a while.  Samuelsson is a 40-50 point player and that was on elite teams (Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver), so don’t expect him to suddenly explode offensively.

Stay away from Reinprecht and Sturm; neither player will have an impact on their new team.  Both are very injury prone and will likely suit up for fewer than 35 NHL games this season.  Both players do have an offensive side to their game, but let someone else take the gamble; it is not worth the headache.  Stay away!

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Aaron Brouwer is the co-creator of www.fantasyhockeycoach.com.  FHC is a free fantasy hockey service that developed a ranking system combining post-lockout statistics, current factors and our own hockey knowledge.  Brouwer writes about fantasy hockey on Bleacher Report. You can contact Coach Brouwer at [e-mail].