McCabe To Broadway. Matt’s Viewpoint.
By Frank Rekas
Matt Lichtenstadter, aka @JagsFan93 wanted to give his viewpoint on the recent trade of Florida Panthers captain Bryan McCabe to the New York Rangers.
Now the fire sale can truly commence. After weeks of speculation, the former Panthers captain was shipped to the Rangers for AHL’er Tim Kennedy and a 3rd round draft pick in 2011. McCabe had 22 points and was a +3 with the Cats this year. The 6th captain of the Panthers will now play for his 6th team in the midst of his 16th season.
McCabe was traded to the Cats in 2008 from Toronto for a 4th round draft choice and Mike Van Ryn, the day after receiving a $2 million signing bonus from the Leafs. In his 2.5 years with Florida, he scored 28 goals, had 76 assists, and was an overall -2. He’s on the last year of a 5 year, $28.75 million deal originally signed with Toronto.
In return, the Panthers get Tim Kennedy, the 181st overall pick in 2005 by Washington, who was then promptly traded to Buffalo. In 78 games, he had 10 goals, 16 assists and 50 penalty minutes for Buffalo last season. He played for the Rangers AHL affiliate, the Connecticut Whale (formerly Hartford Wolf Pack) all season after a contract dispute with Buffalo. In the AHL, he has 12 goals, 30 assists and is a +3 in 53 games with the Whale this season. He’s on a 1 year contract for $550,000, and is an RFA at season’s end.
Due to a little known wrinkle in the CBA, Kennedy is stuck in the minors because he’s over the 60 game limit for recalls. The Rangers haven’t been able to recall him because he could be claimed on recall waivers by any other team.
With the addition of the 3rd round pick, the Panthers now have 10 picks in the upcoming entry draft (excluding conditional picks). Now that Frolik, Stillman, and McCabe have fallen victim to the infamous “blueprint”, who’s next?
I want to thank Matt for contributing his views on this trade for us. You can check out his own personal site as well.
I’d also like to add that many people are saying that they wanted more in return for Bryan. While we may think so, the situation is that McCabe had a no trade clause. He waived it apparently only for the New York Rangers. We got the best we could. I’m still waiting for a first round pick or more of an impact player to come this way, but there’s still time left for that as the deadline ends tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks again to Matt for contributing and thanks for reading.
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