Miroslav Satan was placed on waivers yesterday. Which is unusual, even though he's struggled mightly this season, he still scored two goals in his last two games and was starting to become a factor under interim head coach Dan Byslma, a guy he's very fimiliar with. Still, Pens management has seemingly had enough and put him on waivers. So what happens from here? No one really knows. Some scenarios:
A) Another team claims Satan and he plays out the rest of the season somewhere else.
Pensburgh Likelihood Odds: 25%. Satan's been disappointing but still has a pretty respectable 17 goals this season. Other teams surely know his star is fading, but maybe someone else will pick him up thinking Satan can provide a little scoring depth for them down the stretch. As we know, Satan's a free agent at season's end, so the fact that he doesn't have a long contract with him has to improve his stock around the league.
B) No one claims Satan and
Pensburgh Likelihood Odds: 45%.
C) No one claims Satan,
Pensburgh Likelihood Odds: 20%. If no one claims Satan he could still be traded before the deadline. As mentioned in point A, Satan has an expiring contract. If the Pens do indeed have more trades lined up, they could always insist the other team take Satan, which could be important to keep the Pens under the salary cap. By my math, Satan's cap hit for the rest of the season is about $860,000; more than manageable for teams around the league.
D) No one claims Satan,
Pensburgh Likelihood Odds: 10%. Of course, everything could just blow over. Stranger things have happened than thinking Miroslav Satan has played his last game as a Pittsburgh Penguin. If there are no takers via waivers and the Pens don't or can't bite the bullet to eat his salary they could always keep him around. I haven't thought Satan's played poorly these past couple days, and even if his current role as a 4th liner and swing PP guy certainly isn't ideal for anyone, he's been a professional and kept quiet and tried to help the team.
So what's it going to be; A, B, C or D. And are you voting with your heart or your head on this one?