Washington Capitals place Richard Panik on waivers
The Washington Capitals are cash strapped but despite this look to be buyers for next Monday’s trade deadline which ends at 3 p.m. on April 12. The Caps had to let someone go on waivers to free up cap space and the player they chose is Richard Panik.
This doesn’t mean he is necessarily released. Waivers means there’s a 24 hour period to get claimed by another team. If you aren’t claimed by noon the next day, you go straight to the minors most likely the AHL.
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So tomorrow we’ll find out if Panik will get claimed or if he clears. If he clears waivers, he’ll go to the Hershey Bears, Washington’s AHL affiliate. Or he could be placed on the taxi squad.
The Caps signed Panik to a four year deal worth $11 million in the summer of 2019 which is an average annual value (AAV) of $2.75 million. He was brought in to replace Andre Burakovsky and Brett Connolly for bottom six depth.
Panik skated on the third line in the 2019-20 season before struggling and moving to the fourth line. He got better on the fourth line. This season, he’s had a hard time getting in the lineup with the uptick in production from new guys Daniel Sprong and Conor Sheary.
As the team got fully healthy, Panik was a healthy scratch from time to time. He was a recent healthy scratch in their game last night against the Islanders with Jakub Vrana coming back into the lineup after being scratched for both games against the New Jersey Devils.
Panik had nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points in 59 games last season and has three goals and six assists for nine points in 36 games this season. The Caps have only 10 bucks in cap space per CapFriendly.com.
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Tomorrow at noon we’ll find out if Panik gets picked up by another team or if he heads to the taxi squad.