Panthers left wing David Booth had never been traded before Saturday, but he deemed Vancouver a desirable destination. For the Canucks, the affection is mutual.

Not many people would welcome a trade from the sun and warmth of South Beach to the Pacific Northwest. David Booth is thrilled to be moving three time zones west.

On Saturday, Florida dealt Booth, center Steve Reinprecht and a third-round draft pick in 2013 to Vancouver for forwards Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm.

For Booth, it is a trade from an NHL market where ice is sometimes best known as something put in a drink to a hockey-crazed community where a rabid fan base devours the sport 24/7.

“This is my first time in this situation; my whole career has been in Florida. It’s a polar opposite so this is a new challenge for me. I’m excited for it and ready to go,”said Booth, who has one assist in six games this season, but had 23 goals and 40 points last season for the Panthers.

“I think he gives us an opportunity to have a top-six forward and a left wing to play with Ryan Kesler,” Vancouver general manager Mike Gillis said.

“We were looking to get a little bit younger and a little bit quicker. This should give us an opportunity for a little more balance.”

It also means a strong one-two offensive punch for the Canucks. 

The Sedin twins and Alex Burrows are on the top line. Booth, Kesler and Chris Higgins will comprise the second line, now being referred to as The American Express with Higgins shifting from left to right wing.

“We spoke to Ryan before the trade and he spoke very highly of the person and he spoke very highly of the hockey player,” coach Alain Vigneault said. "We want to make sure that anybody coming into our environment is a good person and a good player. That’s what we feel we have.”

Higgins told The Vancouver Province that Booth reminds him of Kesler.

“He’s a powerful, powerful skater and has a real strong body," Higgins said. "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.”

Kesler and Booth have also been teammates in minor league hockey and at the World Juniors.

“I’m really looking forward to it because I know he’s a champion and a great leader,” said Booth, who will wear No. 7 in Vancouver because his 16-year-old, hockey-playing sister wears that number.

The move is a potential high risk/high reward one for a team that was 60 minutes away from the Stanley Cup last season.

Booth is on the books for a relatively modest $4.25 million through 2014-15. However, he has missed considerable time the past two seasons with concussion issues.

Coming off a career-best 31 goals in 2008-09, Booth missed most of the 2009-10 season after being leveled by Mike Richards in October (right). A shoulder to the head from Jaroslav Spacek ended Booth’s 2010-11 season in March.

"He hasn't been hurt at all since he returned," Gillis said. "I met him last summer actually when I was in northern California, just by coincidence. I had a chat with him and he said he’d felt great the whole season."

Reinprecht, 35, has been assigned to AHL Chicago. Last season he split time between the Panthers and Mannheim of the DEL in Germany.

Samuelsson, eight years older than the 26-year-old Booth, had one goal and two assists this year for the Canucks; Sturm, 33, signed as a free agent in the off-season, hoped to revitalize his career in Vancouver, but was scoreless in six games. Combined they make $4.75 million, but their contracts expire after this season.

"Samuelsson won a Cup in Detroit and is coming off back-to-back 50-point seasons. He's a real useful player. He can play the point on the power play and has size and a big shot that we sorely need,” Florida GM Dale Tallon said. “Sturm gives us a player that can kill penalties. He's scored 20 or more goals seven times in his career, and it just gives us more options and more depth in the organization."

Notes

In the first three games of its current six-game homestand, Calgary has scored just four goals, yet is 1-1-1. … Calgary D Mark Giordano has proven he’s capable of taking on a bigger role with the team after the off-season trade of top defenseman Robyn Regehr. He played nearly 24 minutes against Nashville on Saturday, and had five shots on goal and blocked two shots. … Colorado is 6-0 on the road this season, and outscored opponents 25-14, after Saturday’s 5-4 shootout win in Chicago. Though the Avalanche are off to the best road start in franchise history, they are 0-2 at the Pepsi Center, having been outscored 6-1. After Wednesday’s game in Calgary, the Avs play 11 of 15 at home. … Colorado won just 14 road games last season with 10 of those wins coming before Jan. 1. … C Matt Duchene has just one goal and three assists this year after going 27-40-67 last season. To send a message that Duchene has to play better, he was demoted to the fourth line Saturday. He played 11:35 and then participated in the shootout. … Avalanche LW Peter Mueller missed his fifth consecutive game Saturday with a head injury and remains day-to-day. … Edmonton G Nikolai Khabibulin is having a flashback-type season. In his first four starts, the 38-year-old is 2-0-2 with a 0.72 goals-against average and a .969 save percentage. “I didn’t expect anything from myself other than a good effort from myself and to fight for playing time,” he said after blanking the Rangers 2-0 Saturday, including a stop on a breakaway by Marian Gaborik. “It’s nice that it has started this way. It’s nicer to start well than to not start well and to be trying to catch up all year.” … Oilers C Sam Gagner made his season debut Saturday, returning from a shoulder injury. … LW Magnus Paajarvi is pointless in six games this season. … After averaging about 17 minutes of ice time in the team’s first four contests, D Theo Peckham has been a healthy scratch for three of the last four Edmonton games. He played just 3:08 in the other. … Minnesota has gone into overtime in five of its past six games, winning twice and losing once in shootouts and twice in four-on-four time. … The Wild is 1-0-3 when leading after two periods this season; it was 25-0-1 last season. … Wild captain Mikko Koivu avoided a scare Thursday when he caught teammate Dany Heatley's skate on the chin, just narrowly avoiding his neck. Fortunately, he needed only a few stitches and played Saturday. … LW Guillaume Latendresse, who missed much of last season with abdominal and hip injuries, missed Saturday’s game and Monday’s practice with a sore groin and is day-to-day. … The Wild are 0-for-20 on power plays the past five games and 3-for-31 (9.7 percent, 27th in the NHL) this season. … How rough is it getting for Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo? An Oct. 20 editorial in The Vancouver Province suggested he be traded straight up for Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier. “Tampa needs better goaltending; we need a power forward. Lou’s wife could finally be closer to her family, and Lecavalier could play hockey again in a city that actually cares about his sport. It’s a win-win-win-win (Lou, Vince, Cory, fans) solution.” … G Cory Schneider’s start Saturday against Minnesota was two weeks earlier than his third start last season. … Vancouver D Sami Salo scored the game-winner in his 700th career game as the Canucks beat Minnesota 3-2 in overtime Saturday. … LW Mason Raymond, who suffered broken vertebrae in his back during the Stanley Cup Final, has resumed skating, but there is no timeline for his return.

Photo by Getty Images

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