UPDATE: Booth will miss the rest of the season.David Booth's season was derailed back in October when he was on the receiving end of a crushing hit from Philadelphia's Mike Richards. Booth ended up missing 45 games, as well as a likely spot on the United States Olympic team, with a concussion. While Richards wasn't suspended for the hit -- he was, however, penalized and issued a game misconduct -- it ended up leading, in part, to the recent rule change making such blindside hits illegal.
Unfortunately for Booth, he suffered yet another concussion on Thursday night when he was hit by Montreal's Jaroslav Spacek during Florida's 4-1 loss.
In terms of the new headshot rule, it wasn't an illegal play, but will likely further debate on hits to the head in general.
Not quite as devastating as the Richards hit, but the bottom line is it's Booth's second concussion in five months, and that's never, ever a good thing. It's also a disturbing development for such a promising young career.
A second-round pick in 2004, Booth has developed into one of Florida's best players, and is coming off a 31-goal, 60-point season in 2008-09. In 28 games this season he had eight goals and eight assists.
According to the Panthers, via Steve Gorten of the Sun Sentinel, Booth was released from a Montreal hospital Friday morning after "passing a series of tests."




