# 2004–05 Florida Panthers season

The 2004–05 Florida Panthers season was cancelled due to the lockout of the players of the National Hockey League.

## Off-season

General manager Rick Dudley was fired on May 24, 2004. Two days later Dudley was replaced by the head coach he had fired months earlier, Mike Keenan, while Jacques Martin was named the team’s new head coach.

## Schedule

The Panthers preseason and regular season schedules were announced on July 12 and July 14, 2004, respectively.
2004–05 schedule :
Preseason
GameDateOpponent
1September 26@ Nashville Predators
2September 27Carolina Hurricanes
3September 29@ Ottawa Senators
4October 1@ Carolina Hurricanes
5October 3@ Tampa Bay Lightning
6October 8Tampa Bay Lightning :
Regular season
GameDateOpponent
1October 14Philadelphia Flyers
2October 16@ Tampa Bay Lightning
3October 19@ Toronto Maple Leafs
4October 21@ Boston Bruins
5October 23Pittsburgh Penguins
6October 27Atlanta Thrashers
7October 29Nashville Predators
8October 31Washington Capitals
9November 3Montreal Canadiens
10November 5@ New York Rangers
11November 6@ New York Islanders
12November 9@ Ottawa Senators
13November 12Calgary Flames
14November 14Los Angeles Kings
15November 17@ Anaheim Mighty Ducks
16November 18@ Los Angeles Kings
17November 20@ San Jose Sharks
18November 24New Jersey Devils
19November 26Vancouver Canucks
20November 28@ Washington Capitals
21November 29@ Pittsburgh Penguins
22December 1St. Louis Blues
23December 4@ Tampa Bay Lightning
24December 8Montreal Canadiens
25December 11@ Phoenix Coyotes
26December 13@ Colorado Avalanche
27December 15Buffalo Sabres
28December 17Carolina Hurricanes
29December 19@ Buffalo Sabres
30December 21@ Philadelphia Flyers
31December 23@ New York Rangers
32December 26@ Carolina Hurricanes
33December 27New Jersey Devils
34December 29Boston Bruins
35December 31New York Rangers
36January 4@ New York Islanders
37January 6@ Ottawa Senators
38January 8@ Montreal Canadiens
39January 12Washington Capitals
40January 15Tampa Bay Lightning
41January 17Atlanta Thrashers
42January 19Buffalo Sabres
43January 21Boston Bruins
44January 22@ Washington Capitals
45January 24@ Boston Bruins
46January 26Toronto Maple Leafs
47January 28Pittsburgh Penguins
48January 29Carolina Hurricanes
49February 2Chicago Blackhawks
50February 4@ Atlanta Thrashers
51February 5Anaheim Mighty Ducks
52February 8@ New Jersey Devils
53February 9@ Pittsburgh Penguins
54February 16Ottawa Senators
55February 19New York Islanders
56February 20Detroit Red Wings
57February 22@ Toronto Maple Leafs
58February 24@ Montreal Canadiens
59February 26@ Columbus Blue Jackets
60February 27@ Minnesota Wild
61March 2Toronto Maple Leafs
62March 4@ Atlanta Thrashers
63March 5Tampa Bay Lightning
64March 7Ottawa Senators
65March 9Edmonton Oilers
66March 11Washington Capitals
67March 12@ Carolina Hurricanes
68March 15Philadelphia Flyers
69March 18@ Washington Capitals
70March 19Tampa Bay Lightning
71March 21Atlanta Thrashers
72March 23@ Dallas Stars
73March 24@ Nashville Predators
74March 26@ Tampa Bay Lightning
75March 28@ Atlanta Thrashers
76March 30New York Rangers
77April 1New York Islanders
78April 3@ Buffalo Sabres
79April 5@ Philadelphia Flyers
80April 6@ New Jersey Devils
81April 8Carolina Hurricanes
82April 10@ Carolina Hurricanes :

## Transactions

The Panthers were involved in the following transactions from June 8, 2004, the day after the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, through February 16, 2005, the day the 2004–05 season was officially cancelled.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details | Ref |
| June 26, 2004 (2004-06-26) | To Florida Panthers 2nd-round pick in 2004 | To New York Rangers 2nd-round pick in 20043rd-round pick in 2004 | |
| June 27, 2004 (2004-06-27) | To Florida Panthers 5th-round pick in 2004 | To San Jose Sharks 7th-round pick in 20048th-round pick in 2004 | |

### Players acquired

| Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via |
| July 2, 2004 (2004-07-02) | Jamie McLennan | New York Rangers | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 5, 2004 (2004-07-05) | Eric Cairns | New York Islanders | | Free agency |
| July 14, 2004 (2004-07-14) | Alexander Karpovtsev | New York Islanders | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 15, 2004 (2004-07-15) | Sean Hill | Carolina Hurricanes | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 16, 2004 (2004-07-16) | Joel Kwiatkowski | Washington Capitals | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 23, 2004 (2004-07-23) | Burke Henry | Chicago Blackhawks | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 23, 2004 (2004-07-23) | Serge Payer | Ottawa Senators | 1-year | Free agency |
| August 25, 2004 (2004-08-25) | Patrick DesRochers | Carolina Hurricanes | 1-year | Free agency |

### Players lost

| Date | Player | New team | Via |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Donald Audette | | Contract expiration (III) |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Eric Messier | | Contract expiration (UFA) |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Lyle Odelein | | Contract expiration (III) |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Steve Shields | | Contract expiration (III) |
| July 2, 2004 (2004-07-02) | Byron Ritchie | Calgary Flames | Free agency (UFA) |
| July 7, 2004 (2004-07-07) | Lee Goren | Vancouver Canucks | Free agency (VI) |
| July 7, 2004 (2004-07-07) | Denis Shvidki | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (RSL) | Free agency (II) |
| July 26, 2004 (2004-07-26) | Andreas Lilja | Nashville Predators | Free agency (UFA) |
| August 2, 2004 (2004-08-02) | Pavel Trnka | HC Plzen (ELH) | Free agency (UFA) |
| August 5, 2004 (2004-08-05) | Matt Cullen | Carolina Hurricanes | Free agency (UFA) |
| August 10, 2004 (2004-08-10) | Paul Elliott | Laredo Bucks (CHL) | Free agency (UFA) |
| August 19, 2004 (2004-08-19) | Kent Huskins | Manitoba Moose (AHL) | Free agency (VI) |
| September 9, 2004 (2004-09-09) | Sean O'Connor | San Diego Gulls (ECHL) | Free agency (UFA) |
| September 24, 2004 (2004-09-24) | Simon Lajeunesse | Fresno Falcons (ECHL) | Free agency (UFA) |
| September 25, 2004 (2004-09-25) | David Morisset | Houston Aeros (AHL) | Free agency (UFA) |
| September 8, 2004 (2004-09-08) | Mikael Samuelsson | Geneve-Servette HC (NLA) | Free agency (UFA) |
| December 20, 2004 (2004-12-20) | Kristian Kudroc | Hammerby IF (Allsvenskan) | Free agency (UFA) |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Term | Contract type |
| July 26, 2004 (2004-07-26) | Niklas Hagman | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 26, 2004 (2004-07-26) | Josh Olson | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 2, 2004 (2004-08-02) | Eric Beaudoin | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 2, 2004 (2004-08-02) | Darcy Hordichuk | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 6, 2004 (2004-08-06) | Ryan Jardine | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 11, 2004 (2004-08-11) | Mike Van Ryn | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 25, 2004 (2004-08-25) | Vaclav Nedorost | 1-year | Re-signing |
| September 10, 2004 (2004-09-10) | Juraj Kolnik | 1-year | Re-signing |
| September 14, 2004 (2004-09-14) | Christian Berglund | 1-year | Re-signing |
| September 14, 2004 (2004-09-14) | Kamil Kreps | | Entry-level |
| September 16, 2004 (2004-09-16) | Anthony Stewart | | Entry-level |

## Draft picks

Florida's picks at the 2004 NHL entry draft, which was held at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 26–27, 2004.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team (league) |
| 1 | 7 | Rostislav Olesz | Left Wing | Czech Republic | HC Vitkovice (Czech) |
| 2 | 37 | David Shantz | Goaltender | Canada | Mississauga IceDogs (OHL) |
| 2 | 53 | David Booth | Left Wing | United States | Michigan State Spartans (CCHA) |
| 4 | 105 | Evan Schafer | Defense | Canada | Prince Albert Raiders (WHL) |
| 5 | 152 | Bret Nasby | Defense | Canada | Oshawa Generals (OHL) |
| 9 | 267 | Spencer Dillon | Defense | United States | Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL) |
| 9 | 283 | Luke Beaverson | Defense | United States | Green Bay Gamblers (USHL) |