Former GM admits top prospect was traded due to bad contract “strangling” his team.

The contract signed by the Florida Panthers and veteran Dave Bolland were the work of Dave Tallon, but former general manager Tom Rowe says he is the one who had to bite the bullet to get rid of that deal.

When Rowe made the move to trade top prospect Lawson Crouse to the Arizona Coyotes, there was outrage from the Panthers fan base, and rightfully so. The Panthers gave up Crouse for just a third round draft pick in 2017 and second round draft pick in 2018, but the real key to the deal was clear from the start, the Panthers were dumping Bolland’s $5.5 million salary cap hit, one that still ran for three more years.

Fans of the organization believed that Crouse, a first round pick in 2015, was too much to give up for the cap savings. This week however Tom Rowe admitted that the Bolland contract was a burden the organization could no longer manage.In fact Rowe even admitted he had a bit mutiny going on in his scouting staff.

“We got criticized for giving up on a great young prospect but we had to,” Rowe said as per the Miami Herald. “That contract was strangling us, cap-wise. ...

“When we traded him, our scouts were furious. I’m not going to lie. But we had to do something and that was trade Lawson. I’m sure, to this day, he’s still sour about it.”

We have seen teams like the Maple Leafs make similar trades in the past, and more importantly it seems like the value of these moves is increasing for the teams who take on these bad contracts. With Vegas coming into the league and two NHL Drafts set for the summer, these assets for cap space type of deals may see a lot more use moving forward.