You knew a move was coming. Today, the Tampa Bay Lightning put forward Richard Panik on waivers with the intention of assigning him to the Syracuse Crunch.
As noted in a post earlier this week, the Bolts were in a shaky situation. There were too many players on the roster, and not enough spots. Somebody was going to be moved at some point. The trouble for Steve Yzerman and Jon Cooper was that the waiver exempt individuals played so incredibly well during the preseason. Nikita Kucherov is being viewed as a potential breakout player, Vladislav Namestnikov looks like a seasoned veteran, and Andrej Sustr is as solid as ever.
That meant waivers or a trade. It meant either Brett Connolly, or Mark Barberio, or Richard Panik would find himself on the outs. The decision was made today.
If you’re asking this blogger, there’s very little chance that Panik makes it down to Syracuse. One of the league’s 29 other teams is bound to put a claim on Panik, who has a very impressive skillset.
Drafted in the second round of the 2009 draft, the 23-year-old from Slovakia has offensive talent and size. He scored more than a point per game in his final year of Junior hockey, and later became a fixture on Jon Cooper’s American Hockey League squads. He scored 22 goals and added 19 assists in 51 games during the 2012-13 season with the Syracuse Crunch, and followed that up with 11 points in 13 games with the Crunch last year. While he hasn’t put it all together at the NHL level quite yet, there’s a lot to like about Panik’s potential.
You knew a move was coming. Now the question is whether or not he gets claimed.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.