KEY ADDITIONS				KEY LOSSES
Name Trevor Kidd Lance Pitlick	Pos. G D	From Thrashers Senators		Name Gord Murphy Dino Ciccarelli Kirk McLean	Pos. D F G	To Thrashers Retired Rangers

Outlook
If any team is poised to make positive strides in the Eastern Conference this season, it's the Florida Panthers.

		The key is the health of Pavel Bure. If he's healthy and can score, he will make the players around him better. Rob Niedermayer and Viktor Kozlov should play better with Bure around, and the power play should improve. Bure can score 50-60 goals in his sleep. You add that production to a pretty good defensive team, and it makes a big difference. If Bure is healthy, the Panthers are a playoff team. They are not that far removed from the Stanley Cup finals. You add a player like Bure, and the Panthers are a very good hockey club. He adds something they need desperately: goals. The Panthers have never been able to score goals.

Last year, the Panthers obtained what they have always lacked -- an offensive threat. The only problem was, Pavel Bure played in only 11 games due to a knee injury. He's going into this season about 90-percent healthy, which still equates to more than 100 percent for any other player on the roster.

Bure will skate with center Viktor Kozlov on the top line. However, who will fill the other wing isn't set, and that's a problem for coach Terry Murray, who may end up using a rotation which will include Radek Dvorak, Rob Niedermayer and even enforcer Peter Worrell.

Worrell scored just four goals last season but led the team with 258 penalty minutes. Murray says Worrell could serve as Bure's bodyguard and that he is also capable of scoring 20 goals. We shall see.

The second and third lines will include veteran Ray Whitney, along with second-year players, Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.

Bret Hedican, who came over from Vancouver with Bure, and Robert Svehla will anchor the blueline. After those two, it gets thin, but look for Dan Boyle and Jaroslav Spacek to make more of an impact this season.

Sean Burke and Trevor Kidd will share equal amounts of time between the pipes, regardless of who is hot and who is not. However, if you are looking for an omen, consider this: Since Burke entered the league in 1987-88, only once has a team he spent an entire season with had a winning record. That was back in 1989-90 when the New Jersey Devils finished three games above .500.

Omens aside, Florida should win the Southeast Division - especially if Keith Primeau has a long holdout with the Hurricanes - and return to the postseason as long as the defense plays well and Bure stays healthy.

'98-99 SOUTHEAST STANDINGS
TEAM	W	L	T	Pts.
Carolina	34	30	18	86
Florida	30	34	18	78
Washington	31	45	6	68
Tampa Bay	19	54	9	47

The bottom line
Better or not: Better
By how much: 5 more wins
Most improved: Radek Dvorak and Peter Worrell
Most valuable: Pavel Bure
Biggest disappointment: Rob Niedermayer

Charles Avellino is a lead NHL researcher for ESPN.