Here’s one straight out of left field:
FLA puts Mike Santorelli on waivers; FLA puts Matt Bradley on unconditional ($125) waivers, presumably for buyout/termination of contract.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 28, 2012
This sort of roster move seems incredibly surprising as these two players both brought more to the table than their other ‘fifth line’ counterparts. Mike Santorelli, though often relegated to the pressbox, was only a year removed from a twenty goal breakout campaign and was given inconsistent ice time in his recent 9 goal season. Matt Bradley fit a niche in the Panthers lineup as a utility/enforcer player who was second on the Panthers in hits despite only playing 45 games. Bradley was a Tallon signing from the 2011 free agent class, many believed he’d help Dineen with his leadership. In the end, I guess Dale didn’t need more Bradley after all.
Come on down after the jump.
, here we come! It seems to be the common denominator in analysis of these moves, that the Panthers are looking to free up some money to absorb Bobby Lou’s massive contract. I’m not sure how cutting out 1.6 million Santorelli or 950K Bradley accomplishes much, especially when a certain 36 year old defenseman sits on the third string and already looks out mentored by his mentor. Or, well,
and his 9 million still needing to be paid. It seems there would be better options if the management wanted to save some cash.
The other theory is the move opens up space for rookies not named Jonathan Huberdeau. Nick Bjugstad has yet to commit to another year at Minnesota while other upper level prospects like Drew Shore and Quinton Howden finished the season in San Antonio. If this would be the case, I’d hope Tallon knows to bring in some more leadership before ushering in more than one rookie next season.
Whatever the plan, the line combinations as of today look a little something like this(UFA losses accounted for):
Tomas Fleischmann-Stephen Weiss-Kris Versteeg
Sean Bergenhiem-Marcel Goc-Scottie Upshall
Tomas Kopecky-Shawn Matthias-Jack Skille
???-Jerred Smithson-???
Brian Campbell-???
Mike Weaver-Dmitry Kulikov
(Tyson Strachan/Keaton Ellerby)
Roberto Luongo ???
Fare thee well boys!
So, whats on your mind?
| I’m scared and confused! | 30 |
| Later, suckers! | 5 |
| I liked Santo and Brads, but I’m not too worried about the loss. | 53 |
| This isn’t the only movement we’ll be seeing today | 11 |
| Wake me up on July 1st | 30 |