Senators and Panthers have made a minor trade.

A small trade that could be the precursor to something more.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Senators and Panthers have made a minor trade.
NHL

We have a trade to announce, although for the time being it appears to be a relatively minor one.

According to a report from Ottawa Senators insider Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun we have a player for player trade between the aforementioned Senators and the Florida Panthers. Garrioch reports that the Senators have dealt forward Jack Rodewald to the Panthers in exchange for the rights to Panthers prospect Chris Wilkie, there appear to be no other pieces involved in this trade.

It would be unfair to categorize either of these forwards as an impact player as neither man has set foot in the National Hockey League this season. In fact Rodewald is the only player in this deal with NHL experience under his belt, and that only amounts to a total 10 games over the course of 2 different seasons. During the 2019 - 2020 regular season Rodewald has played exclusively for the American Hockey League's Belleville Senators where he has no goals and no assists over a 6 game stretch that has seen him post a plus minus rating of -4.

Wilkie on the other hand is a former Florida Panthers 6th round draft selection (162nd overall) at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft but has yet to join the ranks of the Panthers organization. Wilkie has spent the past 2 seasons of his career with Colorado College, and that may end up being one of the key components of this trade deal. 

The move not only allows the Senators to swap the 2 players involved in the deal, but it has also allowed them to shed a contract off their books. That brings the Sentors down to just 48 contracts, a move that would give Senators general manager Pierre Dorion a great deal more flexibility in any other deals he wishes to conduct this season, including a deal where he could in theory take on a bad contract an utilize the large chunk of cap space the Senators have at their disposal. To be clear at this time I have no reason to suspect that another move will be immediately forthcoming from the Senators, however this does appear to be the primary motivation behind this deal at this time. That is of course only speculation for the moment, but this will be something worth watching in the coming days. 


Source: