We derive a semiclassical approximation for the coherent state propagator <z'e(-iHt/(h) over bar)\z(')> using a path integral formulation in which the intermediate coherent states can have arbitrary widths. Our semiclassical formula involves complex trajectories of the smoothed Hamiltonian H(q,p,b)=<z\(H) over cap \z> where b, the width of the coherent state \z>, is a free function that can be chosen conveniently. The generality of this formalism enables us to derive a semiclassical approximation which contains, as particular cases, other similar approximations known in the literature, providing a natural link between them. We present numerical results showing that the semiclassical propagation can be very sensitive to the choice of b and we suggest an energy dependent value b=b(E) that results in considerable improvement over other choices. This value for the width will be generally different from the widths sigma(') or sigma(') of the initial and final states \z(')> and \z(')>.686