Former first round pick Sven Baertschi placed on waivers.

This may be a new low point in the career of forward Sven Baertschi and it may get even worse for the young man given what may transpire over the next 24 hours. 

According to a report from Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman the Vancouver Canucks have officially waived the former first round draft pick, signalling that the organization is all but done with the once promising forward. The news should come as somewhat of a surprise but given the context on the past 24 hours it now seems like the Canucks are sending a message more than anything. 

On Friday Baertschi's agent went public with what now appears to have been a trade demand, stating rather plainly that he and his client were not happy with the way he had been treated by the Canucks organization.

‘We would like to get traded, I am in contact with Jim Benning, he knows that,’ said Rufener as per Dhaliwal.

"I am not happy with the way this season has gone for Sven, he played well when he was in the NHL, in my opinion he did not get the opportunity he needed," said Rufener

There is another side to that coin however and it may very well be that the player is not being used as much as he would like due to the fact that he has not lived up to the expectations of the team, which again is almost assuredly the case in this scenario. The always honest Jim Benning, general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, was asked about the sudden rumors surrounding Baertschi and his answers were very telling.

"He's played well down there." said Benning. "But we've kind of evolved as a team and our skill players are more hard skill than soft skill."

Although Benning would never admit as much that sure sounded like a shot at a player who has always carried the "soft" label throughout his career. Baertschi currently carries a cap hit of $3.366 million per season for both this season and the next, it seems unlikely that there will be many teams looking to add that kind of a hit in the middle of an NHL season. We will find out by this time tomorrow if there is still a general manager out there who feels they can get something out of him.