Mar 1: Like almost every other skater this season, Connolly has cleared waivers. He can now be assigned to the taxi squad or sent to the minor leagues.
Feb 28: The Florida Panthers put forward Brett Connolly on waivers, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. The one-time Stanley Cup champion with the Washington Capitals has struggled in Florida this year as the team hopes to move him to their taxi squad if he goes unclaimed.
The 28-year-old forward has put up just one goal and three points in 16 games with Florida this year, which likely isn’t good enough for head coach Joel Quenneville, who is trying to build a winner in Florida. Connolly has been relegated to fourth-line duties and now has been scratched four of the last five games.
Connolly is just another veteran who finds himself on waivers. The forward helped lead Washington to the Stanley Cup title back in 2018. He then took his game up a level with Washington the next season, scoring career-highs with 22 goals and 46 points in his free-agent year. The Panthers swooped in and signed him to a four-year, $14MM contract in the summer of 2019. He posted solid numbers in his first year under Quenneville, scoring 19 goals and 33 points. However, this year has been a totally different story.
Connolly, despite his experience as a solid bottom-six forward, isn’t a likely candidate to be claimed due to his $3.5MM AAV and the fact that he has another two years on his contract after this year. That should be enough to scare teams away from claiming him.
Henrique for Connolly.
He’s still useful, but he’s overpaid. A drop off in production isn’t that surprising though considering all the guys they brought in have been performing and diminishing his role. Especially when they acquired a guy who plays a similar style like Hornqvist, that was quite the fleecing by Florida.
I was thinking a byron swap first but byron is cheaper, faster and has more of a scoring touch.
It’s Almost like they needed to change the goalie system this year due to covid protocols