The Panthers are floundering near the Eastern Conference basement this season and Versteeg was set to become a valuable trade chip for the club in hopes of acquiring some youth in return.  That plan is now out the window and is the second player this month that the cats have had fall by the way side to injury.

Stephen Weiss was the other player the Panthers were said to be prepared to move by April 3rd but a season-ending injury that resulted in surgery on his knee has taken Weiss off the block.

The Panther are now forced to try and rebuild their roster without their top two assets and while a deal prior to free agency this summer is still possible, players like Weiss and Versteeg would have been popular for those playoff bound clubs.  Something that often results in teams willing to overpay for their services.

On the season Versteeg, like Weiss had been strugggling, collecting just 2 goals and 2 assists in 10 games since returning from a previous injury.

Another tough break for the Florida Panthers who will have to get creative if they want to rebound quickly and re-assemble a team that is competitive for next season.

The top four remains unchanged with the San Jose Sharks comfortably at number one, followed by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues.  Again, do the Hawks deserve to be ahead of the Bolts?  Probably, but it’s petty at this point arguing over number 2 and number 3 so we’ll move on to bigger and badder issues.

The Montreal Canadiens surprisingly hopped up into the top five this week based on the signing of P.K. Subban and the unexpected return of Max Pacioretty.  Petty reasons?  Perhaps, but given they are 6-2 to start the year and beat the Ottawa Senators on the weekend, we’ll let it slide this time.

The Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers round out the top ten.  The Ducks are soaring thanks to Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry who have helped propel the Orange County club to a nice 5-1-1 start.

The Oilers at number 10 is surprising given their record of 4-3-1.  They haven’t scored a lot of even strength goals, rather relying on the power play which leaves many questions if this club is top ten worthy.

The bottom of the pack is relatively unchanged with the Carolina Hurricanes holding steady at number 25.  The biggest drop of the week belongs to the Winnipeg Jets who were railroaded on their trip to Florida over the weekend that led to their three game losing streak in which they were outscored 18-9. Their blueline is suddenly thin with the absence of Zach Bogosian and now Dustin Byfuglien, meaning this team does not have a lot left to rely on offensively.  Don’t be surprised to see if the Jets linger around the bottom of the rankings all season long.

Sitting at 27 are the Nashville Predators, down three spots from 24.  The loss of Patric Hornqvist and Martin Erat is devastating but this club continues to grab at least a point via the shootout, making their ranking a surprise.

The Calgary Flames slid down another two spots this week from 26 to 28 and while the sit in last place in the league, they have played the fewest amount of games. Injuries and absences haven’t given the Flames a full roster yet this season and Jarome Iginla is slow out of the gate.  Miikka Kiprusoff has been hot and cold to start the year, looking great one night and terrible the next.  Many experts have picked the Flames to finish near the bottom of the Western Conference and so far the Flames are making them look like….well….experts.

The Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals flip flopped spots this week as the Caps continue to surprise everyone and lose more games than they’re winning.  Their goaltending has been bad and Ovechkin isn’t scoring.  Two things that are surely adding grey hairs to Adam Oates.

Meanwhile, back-to-back wins for the Panthers have them out of the basement in the rankings.  Throw in a healthy Stephen Weiss and a return from Kris Versteeg and suddenly the cats have a decent lineup, now they just have to start winning consistently.

It’s worth noting that the Dallas Stars fell twelve spots this week from 12 to 24.  A strong start has been replaced by a 3-5-1 record and too often they’re giving up more shots on goal then they’re generating.

Movers and Shakers: The Phoenix Coyotes were the biggest mover this week, jumping nine spots from 22 to 13 that saw them go 2-0-2 over the last seven days.

Free Fall: as already discussed, the Jets are in a nasty free fall, tumbling down seventeen spots from number 9 to 26.  And there aren’t a lot of reassuring points or perspectives for fans to grasp to, aside from pulling the rip cord.  But they signed up for five years, which could turn into five years of misery if management doesn’t get creative with this roster.

In Nashville, the Predators don’t have an exact timeline on forward Patric Hornqvist, but the outlook doesn’t look good.  Hornqvist sustained a lower-body injury in the club’s shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks and according to Josh Cooper of the Tennessean, head coach Barry Trotz confirmed that he’ll miss “going to miss some time.” Luke Lapinski of ESPN.com feels that this indicates Hornqvist will more than the four games the club originally thought (insider access needed). The injury occurred when Hornqvist got tied up with Ducks’ forward Ryan Getzlaf as seen in the picture.

Hornqvist was off to a fine start this season with 1 goal and 3 assists through the Predators first five games.  Last season in Nashville, the now 26-year old scored 27 times and added 16 assists, good for 43 points in 76 games.

Nashville has four games remaining on their current seven-game road trip.  Our Predators site, Predlines had the original posting on the injury.

You can also check out Predlines for an in-depth analysis on what the Preds need to do to continue to compete and hang in the playoff hunt in Hornqvist’s absence.

In Florida, the struggling Panthers have been without forward Kris Versteeg to start the year and could be reinserted to the team’s lineup in the very near future.  According to Lapinski, Versteeg worked out on Saturday, although a definite return has yet to be confirmed.

Last season, Versteeg helped lead the Panthers to the Souteast division title by scoring 23 goals and adding 31 assists for 54 points which ranked third on the club.  He’s been out of the lineup this year with an undisclosed lower-body injury that is being dubbed a groin injury.  Lapinski hears that the injury is unrelated to his hip injury that bothered him last season.

The Panthers have lost four straight games after opening the season with a victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.  They’ve been outscored 18-3 over those four losses.

Finally, in Montreal the surprising Canadiens will be without forward Max Pacioretty for the next 3-4 weeks following an emergency appendectomy according to the Canadiens. The club confirmed the 24-year old had the procedure on Saturday.

Through the first 3 games this season, Pacioretty had four assists after leading the Habs in scoring last year with 33 goals and 65 points. Since dropping their season opener, the Canadiens have reeled off three wins in a row to the surprise of many.  They are currently playing without star defenseman, P.K. Subban and now will have to survive the next month without one of their top offensive players.

To write for Fansided please fill out our application here.