Less than 24 hours until the NHL season gets under way now, and just under two hours before teams have to submit their NHL rosters for the start of the season, it’s almost time for games to actually count.
I had to wait a little later to submit this profile, because I wasn’t sure whether he’d still be part of the team or not, but as of an hour ago Todd White cleared waivers and for the moment, will remain with the organization.
Player Profile
At 35 years old, coming off a shoulder injury, Todd White is clearly on the downside of his career. And yet, he’s just two years removed from setting a career high of 73 points with the Atlanta Thrashers. Certainly didn’t hurt that he got to play with one of the most prodigious scorers in the game in Ilya Kovalchuk.
Acquired via a Summer trade that sent the unwanted contracts of Patrick Rissmiller and Donald Brashear to Atlanta, White was hoping for one last chance to show that he can still play in the NHL.
Instead, the veteran utility forward has not particularly impressed Head Coach John Tortorella and figures to be the first player to be sent down to Hartford when Chris Drury comes off IR in a couple of weeks.
A couple of goals in a meaningless 8-5 loss to the Ottawa Senators in the preseason finale were more opportunistic than impressive. In actuality his first goal probably should have been stopped if not for some suspect goaltending by Pascal Leclaire.
Outside of that, White was already down the depth chart by the time the club began playing games. Coming out of the first days of camp, he was being used as a 3rd/4th line center, and failed to stand out there, ultimately losing ground to rookie Derek Stepan, and to a lesser extent Tim Kennedy and Brian Boyle in the process.
It’s hard to see where White fits in for this season. Initially he could be kept up with the team in case of injury, but before too long his $2.375M salary is going to become too much and a relocation to Hartford doesn’t seem out of the question.
Once down in the minors, it’s hard to see the Rangers willing to bring him back up and potentially lose him on re-entry waivers, which would cost them half that salary for the remainder of the year.
2009-10 Statistics
Team: Atlanta Thrashers (NHL)
Stats: 7 goals, 19 assists and 24 penalty minutes in 65 games
Prediction
Team: Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL)
Stats: 10 goals, 15 assists and 16 penalty minutes in 42 games
Team: New York Rangers (NHL)
Stats: 0 goals, 2 assists and 2 penalty minutes in 8 games
Trivia
White has been traded three times in his career, including the one over the Summer that brought him to New York. The first time was by Chicago to Philadelphia for future considerations in 2000, then he was to Minnesota by Ottawa at the 2005 NHL entry draft for a 4th round pick
CAR
PIT
CBJ