Florida Panthers Sign William Lockwood, Gerald Mayhew
Already signing forward Evan Rodrigues earlier today, the Florida Panthers continue to add to their forward depth, announcing the signing of forward William Lockwood to a two-year, $1.55MM, carrying an AAV of $775K. Shortly thereafter, the team also announced they have re-signed forward Gerald Mayhew, signing him to a one-year, $775K, two-way deal. PuckPedia later reported Mayhew’s minor-league salary is $450K.
Lockwood was originally drafted in the third round of the 2016 NHL Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, and stayed within the organization until a trade to the New York Rangers at last year’s deadline. The University of Michigan product has primarily played in the AHL for the Canucks organization but also carries 28 games of NHL experience.
Producing the best offensive output of his minor league career last season, Lockwood played in 43 games split between the Hartford Wolf Pack and the Abbotsford Canucks, scoring 17 goals and 13 assists. In the event that Florida runs into injury trouble next season, Lockwood should serve as a serviceable call-up option for the team.
In the case of Mayhew, the Panthers are continuing their due diligence to keep their AHL team competitive. In his first season with the Panthers organization, Mayhew played 69 games for the Charlotte Checkers, scoring 24 goals and 20 assists. It’s not quite the offensive outburst compared to his 2019-20 campaign with the Iowa Wild, but any 20-20 player will still carry tremendous value to any team.
Anaheim Ducks Claim Gerry Mayhew
The Anaheim Ducks have decided to claim minor league star Gerry Mayhew off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Mayhew, 29, has been a top goal scorer in the AHL for several years, including a 39-goal season in 2019-20 with the Iowa Wild. Unfortunately, that minor league success hasn’t translated to much playing time in the NHL, with Mayhew suiting up just 42 times in his career so far. Twenty-five of those have come this season with the Flyers, resulting in six goals (and no assists).
The undrafted forward will now take his talents to the west coast, where the Ducks have sold off several pieces over the last few days. Among the outgoing names was Nicolas Deslauriers, meaning they have some minutes available up front. While Mayhew is certainly not a Deslauriers replacement in style, he at least can give them a bit more depth down the stretch and perhaps even add a few more of those goals.
Signed to a one-year, two-way contract that comes with an NHL cap hit of $800K, Mayhew cannot be assigned to the minor leagues and will stay on Anaheim’s NHL roster for the time being. Importantly, that also means that he won’t be eligible to play in the AHL down the stretch or into the playoffs, as he won’t be there at tomorrow’s roster deadline.
Myers, Desrosiers Clear Waivers
March 20: Myers and Desrosiers have cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the minor leagues. Mayhew was claimed by the Anaheim Ducks and will stay in the NHL for now.
March 19: With there being just two days before the trade deadline, there should be an uptick of waiver activity before then. That started today as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Philippe Myers (Predators), Gerry Mayhew (Flyers), and Phillipe Desrosiers (Jets) are all on waivers.
Myers is easily the headline player on this list. His stock has fallen sharply since establishing himself as a regular on Philadelphia’s back end in 2019-20. He was part of the Ryan Ellis traded over the summer with the hope that a change of scenery would get him going again. That hasn’t happened. Instead, the 25-year-old has played in just 27 games this season while spending even more time as a healthy scratch. With 142 games of NHL experience over four seasons and being a big right-shot defender, Myers could, in theory, be appealing to some teams. However, he has a $2.55MM AAV through next season and his salary jumps to $3.8MM in 2022-23. That will certainly limit his suitors which explains why he’s on the waiver wire today and not being traded. Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press suggests (Twitter link) that the Flyers could be a team to claim Myers knowing that they’re likely to move pending UFA Justin Braun by Monday’s trade deadline.
Mayhew has played in 29 games with Philadelphia this season, his longest stretch of NHL action and he has been somewhat productive with six goals although he has yet to record an assist while logging over 12 minutes a game. The 29-year-old has been a top scorer at the AHL level for the last several years and has 16 points in 24 games with Lehigh Valley of the AHL this season. Mayhew is making $800K at the NHL level this season and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
As for Desrosiers, his placement means that he has agreed to an NHL deal with Winnipeg with the team announcing it will carry a $750K cap hit. The 26-year-old has played in three games with their AHL affiliate in Manitoba this season but has spent the majority of the year with Trois-Rivieres of the ECHL. He’ll continue to serve as extra depth for them but will now be eligible to be recalled if they need him. The Jets had 10 open contract slots out of the maximum of 50 so there’s no risk in them handing out this contract.