Florida Panthers Acquire Aleksi Saarela
Make that three trades in Aleksi Saarela‘s young career. The Chicago Blackhawks minor league forward has been swapped again, this time headed to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Ian McCoshen. Saarela was only acquired by the Blackhawks in June as part of the Calvin de Haan trade, but had registered just one point in five games with the Rockford IceHogs.
That is a substantial step back for the 22-year old, who scored 30 goals and 54 points in 69 regular season games with the 2019 Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers. Saarela was a force for the Checkers in the regular season and playoffs, showing that he might have an NHL future after all.
Originally selected in the third round of the 2015 draft by the New York Rangers, Saarela’s rights were sent to Carolina as part of the 2016 Eric Staal trade. He’ll now try to impress a third organization.
McCoshen meanwhile found himself too far down the depth chart to be of much value to the Panthers at this point. The 24-year old defenseman was supposed to be NHL-ready when he came out of Boston College in 2015-16, but it turned out that readiness wasn’t the same as effectiveness. McCoshen has played 60 games with Florida over the last three seasons, but never found his groove as an everyday option.
Selected 31st overall in 2013, McCoshen is now on his second contract and waiver eligible, though he cleared it at the end of September and can be moved up and down by the Blackhawks for the time being. He’ll serve as some depth for the team as they deal with another injury to Connor Murphy.
Training Camp Cuts: 09/26/19
Like always, we’ll keep you aware of all the training camp cuts right here. Keep checking back to see the updated list:
Anaheim Ducks (per team release)
F Alex Broadhurst (to San Diego, AHL)
D Hunter Drew (to San Diego, AHL)
D Zack Hayes (to San Diego, AHL)
F Justin Kloos (to San Diego, AHL)
F Jack Kopacka (to San Diego, AHL)
D Patrick Sieloff (to San Diego, AHL)
D Chris Wideman (to San Diego, AHL)
G Anthony Stolarz (to San Diego, AHL)
Boston Bruins (per team release)
F Ryan Fitzgerald (to Providence, AHL)
F Joona Koppanen (to Providence, AHL)
F Zach Senyshyn (to Providence, AHL)
F Pavel Shen (to Providence, AHL)
F Oskar Steen (to Providence, AHL)
D Jeremy Lauzon (to Providence, AHL)
D Urho Vaakanainen (to Providence, AHL)
G Kyle Keyser (to Providence, AHL)
F Paul Carey (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
F Brendan Gaunce (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
D Alexander Petrovic (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
Buffalo Sabres (per team release)
F Dylan Cozens (to Lethbridge, WHL)
Carolina Hurricanes (per team release)
F Morgan Geekie (to Charlotte, AHL)
F Janne Kuokkanen (to Charlotte, AHL)
F Steven Lorentz (to Charlotte, AHL)
F Eetu Luostarinen (to Charlotte, AHL)
F Stelio Mattheos (to Charlotte, AHL)
D Jake Bean (to Charlotte, AHL)
D Kyle Wood (to Charlotte, AHL)
G Alex Nedeljkovic (to Charlotte, AHL)
D Jesper Sellgren (to Lulea HF, SHL)
F Ryan Suzuki (to Barrie, OHL)
Colorado Avalanche (per team release)
D Bowen Byram (to Vancouver, WHL)
F Martin Kaut (to Colorado, AHL)
F Sheldon Dries (to Colorado, AHL)
F Logan O’Connor (to Colorado, AHL)
F Michael Joly (to Colorado, AHL)
G Hunter Miska (to Colorado, AHL)
D Jacob MacDonald (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
D Dan Renouf (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
Edmonton Oilers (per team release)
F Kailer Yamamoto (to Bakersfield, AHL)
Florida Panthers (per team release)
F Anthony Greco (to Springfield, AHL)
D Ian McCoshen (to Springfield, AHL)
G Chris Driedger (to Springfield, AHL)
Montreal Canadiens (per team release)
F Matthew Peca (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
F Phil Varone (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
F Dale Weise (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
D Karl Alzner (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
D Xavier Ouellet (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
New York Rangers (per team release)
F Daniel O’Regan (to Hartford, AHL)
Ottawa Senators (per team release)
F Parker Kelly (to Belleville, AHL)
G Marcus Hogberg (to Belleville, AHL)
F Nick Paul (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
F Jordan Szwarz (placed on waivers before AHL assignment)
Vegas Golden Knights (per Jesse Granger, The Athletic)
F Reid Duke (to Chicago, AHL)
D Dylan Coughlan (to Chicago, AHL)
Waivers: 09/25/19
With AHL training camps getting underway, many players will be put on waivers over the next several days. We’ll keep track of all of them right here:
Florida Panthers
F Anthony Greco
D Ian McCoshen
G Chris Driedger
New York Rangers
Winnipeg Jets
Florida Panthers Agree To Terms With Ian McCoshen
The Florida Panthers are getting their restricted free agent business done today, as after avoiding arbitration with MacKenzie Weegar the team has agreed to terms with Ian McCoshen. McCoshen will sign a one-year, two-way contract for 2019-20, though the exact financials have not been released yet.
McCoshen, 23, still hasn’t had quite the impact at the NHL level that the Panthers were hoping for when they made him the 31st overall pick in 2013. After three years at Boston College the 6’3″ defenseman was expected to take a very short amount of time in the minor leagues before being ready to step into an NHL role, but that hasn’t worked out quite as planned. Now three seasons into his pro career, McCoshen has only suited up 60 times with the Panthers and is by no means guaranteed a role at that level in 2019-20.
Never a huge offensive threat, McCoshen was instead heralded for his tight gaps on defense and ability to engage physically when necessary. In extremely limited ice time, he has just seven points in those 60 games and has posted very poor possession statistics. In order to receive any more opportunity this season he will have to battle against players like Weegar and Josh Brown in training camp and show there is another level to his performance.
Still, it’s not time yet to give up on the young defenseman nor is it time to pencil him into the Springfield Thunderbirds roster to start the year. No longer waiver-exempt, the team might have to keep him in the NHL for a while as another team could easily find him attractive enough to put in a claim if he were to be exposed at the end of training camp. While the Panthers are now looking to compete and will be trying to trim the fat from their roster, a rebuilding club could certainly give McCoshen a chance as a bottom-pairing option to see what he can develop into. With just nine forwards signed to one-way contracts, the Panthers will have some flexibility at the start of the year if they want to keep all eight defensemen on the roster.