LIGHTING THE LAMP: Florida Panthers

Lighting the Lamp, until I come up with a better name for it, is going to be our rumors and speculation feature. Our very first one (unless you include the untitled discussion of the still viable Khabibulin trade from week 1) will focus on the Florida Panthers and will serve as a bit of a place holder until their team preview is written.

There are constantly rumors swirling in the NHL, but when I've thought one is viable and will have a big effect on a team I have tried to avoid their team preview (the reason that amongst others I have thus far skipped over Ottawa, Vancouver, Chicago, Toronto, Colorado, et al). Earlier this week a pretty big trade rumor came down the pike and was reported in several major outlets.

The rumor was that Toronto's Bryan McCabe would be traded to the Florida Panthers for Mike Van Ryn. Other players would be involved in the deal ultimately but its unclear as to who they would be at this particular moment. So lets look at the salary dump ...er trade as it stands currently.

McCabe is talented... at feeding the puck to Mats Sundin on the powerplay and getting stupid penalties... which means that you should have loved him fantasy wise for the last couple of seasons. That said he has DEFINITELY worn out his welcome in Toronto, making this a personality dump as well. With no obvious Sundin in Florida, Nathan Horton maybe, and competition from Jay Bouwmeester for powerplay time McCabe could see his numbers take a serious dip.

The deal isn't particularly great for Van Ryn either. With no Sundin in Toronto anymore, we think, Van Ryn is going find the powerplay up there significantly less welcoming then it was to McCabe. He would also find himself third on the depth chart behind Kaberle and Kubina.

The reason the deal has been delayed, so goes the story, is that McCabe is waiting to OK it until after Toronto has paid his 2 million dollar signing bonus for the season. I'm sure that's actually one of Florida's conditions and not McCabe's but I'll trust the media on this. So we won't know for sure whats going on until the date for that arrives, which is reported to be the 15th of September. I'm going to attempt to not preview either team, until we know for sure what is going on with this situation. I'll keep you informed.