Ex-Panther David Booth will get tryout with Cats at training camp

David Booth is a member of the Florida Panthers once again after the winger accepted a professional tryout Wednesday and will contend for a roster spot at training camp.

Florida will open training camp on Sept.17, with the first on-ice workout coming Sept.18 in Coral Springs.

Booth, 30, spent parts of six seasons with the Panthers from 2006-11. Florida traded Booth to Vancouver six games into the 2011-12 season for Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm.

In 309 games with the Panthers, Booth had 87 goals and 80 assists and led the team in goals twice. Booth’s best season with Florida came in 2008-09 when he had 31 goals and 29 assists.

Booth signed a six-year deal with Florida worth $25.5 million in 2009, but his numbers started to slip after he sustained a major concussion when he was struck by Philadelphia’s Mike Richards early in the 2009-10 season.

Booth missed 45 games after Richards’ hit, then was lost for the remainder of that season after sustaining a second concussion on a hit by Montreal’s Jaroslav Spacek.

Although Booth scored 23 goals for the Panthers in 2010-11, he has just 17 over the past three seasons, and the final year of the contract he signed with the Panthers was bought out by the Canucks before last season.

The Detroit native scored seven goals in 59 games for Toronto last season.

Florida selected Booth in the second round of the 2004 NHL Draft.

This story was originally published September 9, 2015 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Ex-Panther David Booth will get tryout with Cats at training camp."