Just hours after cleaning house by firing his entire coaching staff, Florida GM Dale Tallon shook up his roster by putting veteran defenseman Ryan Whitney on waivers.
Whitney, who signed a one-year, $900,000 deal with Florida after playing in St. Louis’ camp on a PTO, has only appeared in six games this year for the Panthers, going scoreless while posting a minus-7 rating. He last played in Tuesday’s shootout loss to Edmonton, after which Tallon reportedly sent around a mass email trying to trade Whitney.
The 30-year-old rearguard was, at one time, a quality offensive defenseman, scoring 59 points for Pittsburgh during the 2006-07. Injuries and steadily decreasing foot speed have hampered his game, however, and he’s had issues defensively in each of his last three stops (Edmonton, Anaheim and Florida).