A lot of teams choose to make further training camp cuts on Wednesday and that involved the release of several noteworthy veterans from their professional tryouts.
We've already touched on how the evolving reality of the cap era has left some otherwise NHL-worthy players out in the cold this year, but not every player that resorts to accepting a PTO comfortably falls into that camp. In the case of David Booth, a different picture could be painted.
Although there's still time for Booth to prove this wrong, he's looking like a player that peaked early in his career before - partially due to injuries - declining early and steeply. He had 31 goals and 60 points in 72 games in 2008-09 when he was 24 years old (as of Nov. 24 of that campaign), but at the age of 30 he's already fallen to the point where he's a fringe player.
He struggled with the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs over the last two campaigns and his attempt to return to Florida - the origin of his success - finished with the Panthers releasing him from his PTO. Booth believes he's "still a great player," per the Miami Herald, but the unfortunate reality is that his results have been contrary to that statement. We'll see if he can change that.
If nothing else, he can take comfort in knowing he's far from the only noteworthy player to get released from a PTO recently. We've brought up a number of examples this week and you can add another to the pile as Andrej Meszaros was unable to make the Colorado Avalanche.
Meszaros is 29 years old and a veteran of 645 games. He's never played in the AHL, having made the leap to the NHL straight from the junior level, but he might end up spending some time in the minors this season.
There were noteworthy names outside of the PTO group to be cut Wednesday though. One in particular that stands out is Steve Moses.
Moses inked a one-year, $1 million deal with the Nashville Predators, but he will start the season with AHL Milwaukee. Moses is 26 years old and has never played in the NHL, but he was superb with the KHL's Jokerit Helsinki in 2014-15, scoring 36 goals and 57 points in 60 games.
The question is if Moses' game can translate to the NHL and his size (he's listed as 5-foot-9, 175-pounds) is a consideration as well. That being said, the Predators do believe he will be an asset for them after an adjustment period.
“He’s still a player that we’re counting on to be somebody who can produce for us, but I think that there’s a learning curve in coming back [to North America],” Predators coach Peter Laviolette told the team's website. “The best way to get to that is probably to get to Milwaukee and try to figure that out. Being the extra guy or an extra guy here, I don’t think is going to help, so going there and playing some games is probably the quickest way to try and make it back here.”
Moses didn't have to be exposed to waivers though and one has to wonder if the Predators would have made that decision if that weren't the case. The vast majority of players waived during training camp clear, but that doesn't mean it's automatic. The Philadelphia Flyers have lost Chris Porter to the Minnesota Wild after exposing him to waivers on Wednesday.
Interestingly, Porter was put in Philadelphia's preseason game Wednesday night after being waived and he went on to score a goal.
“He’s done a good job and spent a lot of time up and down. Chris is a pro,” Flyers GM Ron Hextall said, per CSN Philly.. “I told him he was going on waivers and he was fine. Goes out and plays a good game. He’s a pro.”
Of course, Minnesota likely didn't claim him just because he performed under trying circumstances. Porter was someone that was already on their radar this season. He's also good friends with Wild captain Zach Parise, to the extent that Parise was the best man at Porter's wedding. This changes Porter from being a player who might have been one of the first injury replacements in Philadelphia to someone that might spend the entire season at the NHL level.
Moving from a focus on individuals, the Arizona Coyotes have been noteworthy as a whole for an unfortunate reason. Through five preseason games, they have scored just four goals, with only one of them coming at even strength.
Of course, exhibition contests need to be taken with a grain of salt.
“We’ve got young players in key roles that are supposed to help provide that offense," coach Dave Tippett noted, per the Arizona Republic.. "That doesn’t exclude any veterans but really the way our schedule has set up, we’ve had one game with our whole lineup in and I like how many chances we created in that game."
The game he's referring with the whole lineup to was a 1-0 loss to Vancouver on Monday.
Even with all that in mind, the Coyotes showing is still troubling because Arizona's was the second worst offensive team last season and with the upgrades Buffalo made, it's entirely possible that the Coyotes will score fewer goals than any other team this season.
As touched on earlier in the week, the Coyotes have a lot of promising forward prospects, but the returns on that might not begin in 2015-16. In other words, this might be a season of pain for the Coyotes, which is unfortunately nothing new for this franchise.