The Florida Panthers put Sam Lafferty on waivers Sunday afternoon, one day after he racked up 15 penalty minutes against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
That's a loud way to exit. The forward logged 14:34 in Saturday's shootout loss at home and walked away without a point.
So what did Paul Maurice see that he didn't like? Fifteen penalty minutes says plenty about the edge he brought. It says nothing about whether Florida wanted that edge.
The timing stings. The Panthers head to Carolina on Tuesday, and Bill Zito just decided the roster might make that trip without him.
Florida's recent form isn't the issue either. The Panthers sit at 2-0-2 over their recent stretch, so this reads like a numbers crunch more than a panic button.
Waivers in late September work like moving day on a city street. Teams drag furniture to the curb, and the neighbors decide whether it's junk or a steal.
Lafferty isn't alone out there. Sunday's list stretched across nine teams, with Anaheim, Boston, Dallas, the Rangers, New Jersey, San Jose and Vegas all putting names out.
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Nashville put two players on the wire, and Ilya Lyubushkin is the name that jumps. The defenseman played 15:02 on Saturday afternoon and went minus-1 without registering a shot.
That came in a 6-0 home loss to the Hurricanes. Andrew Brunette's group now sits 1-3-0 in its recent sample.
Barry Trotz isn't sitting on his hands. When a blue line gives up six on home ice, nobody gets to feel untouchable, and the GM acted like it.
And here's where the two stories collide. Carolina, the club that just shut out Nashville, hosts Florida on Tuesday.
The Hurricanes have won three straight and ride a 3-1-0 run into that game. That's the buzzsaw Maurice now sends his reshuffled forward group into.
My take? Florida is making a mistake if this is about the penalty minutes. Players who drag games into the mud are exactly what a long season demands in the bottom six.
Somebody with a thin fourth line should put in a claim. If nobody does, the Panthers get their answer, and so does Lafferty.
The bigger question stays in Florida's locker room. If Maurice doesn't want that kind of bite from a depth forward, what exactly is he asking from the guys who stayed?
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Should the Panthers have kept Sam Lafferty after his 15-penalty-minute night?
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