Higgins

Fantasy Impact – The Florida Panthers have signed Chris Higgins to a one-year contract worth $1.6 million.

The Panthers get: A forward that can play both left wing and center. Since scoring 27 goals for the Habs in 2007-08, Higgins has only lit the lamp 20 times in 124 games, split between Montreal, New York, and Calgary. He is obviously looking to get his career back on track and the opportunity to play top nine minutes (with the potential for top six) probably attracted him to Florida. He is solid defensively and is a quick skater, but his offensive game has been nonexistent for the past few seasons.

Fantasy Players impacted:

Higgins can play both wing and center, but I'd expect him to play wing in Florida. The Panthers have Stephen Weiss, Steve Reinprecht, and Shawn Matthias up the middle. On the left side, David Booth is far and away the best to skate on the top line, but his concussion issues have to be a consideration. Recently acquired Michael Grabner was drafted as a left winger but has been playing mostly right wing for Manitoba and Vancouver over the past few seasons.

Dale Tallon seems to think Higgins will slot in on the second line behind Booth. That pushes both Cory Stillman and the absurdly-overpaid Rostislav Olesz down the depth chart. The Panthers have an abundance of second/third line wingers, which will make it very difficult for any prospects to crack the roster this coming season.

At the moment, this is how I see the Panthers lining up:

Booth-Weiss-Frolik

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Higgins-Reinprecht-Grabner

Stillman-Matthias-Bernier

Olesz-Bitz-Dvorak

(Olesz, with a cap hit of $3.125 million until 2014, has to be the most overpaid fourth liners in the league, no?)

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

1. Higgins

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:

1. Cory Stillman

2. Rostislav Olesz