Rob Scuderi placed on waivers by Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks placed veteran defenseman Rob Scuderi on waivers Tuesday, giving themselves further salary cap relief as the team nears the Feb. 29 trade deadline.
Chicago acquired the 37-year-old Scuderi from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a December trade for Trevor Daley. The Penguins paid one-third of Scuderi’s $3.375 million salary cap hit, which meant the Blackhawks were on the hook for $2.25 million towards their cap. Scuderi has one year remaining on his deal.
The move could have an impact for the Blackhawks’ salary cap around the trade deadline. According to General Fanager, if Scuderi is claimed, the team will have roughly $5.6 million in salary cap space at that time. If Scuderi clears waivers and is sent to the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL, the team will have $3.9 million of salary cap space.
Per General Fanager, the Blackhawks currently have $1.99 million of salary cap space and are projected to have roughly $2.64 million of space on trade deadline day.
If Scuderi clears waivers, the team will have a span of 30 days or 10 regular season games to send him to the AHL.
This won’t be the first time the team has buried a veteran contract in the minors this season. The Hawks sent struggling forward Bryan Bickell – who makes $4 million at the NHL level – to the AHL. Bickell has played a total of 22 games with Rockford this year. In the AHL, his salary cap hit is worth $3.05 million.
Scuderi was an important part of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2009 Stanley Cup team and the Los Angeles Kings 2012 Cup squad as a shutdown defender.
With the Hawks, he didn’t have much of a role, averaging 11:06 of ice-time per-game in 17 contests. Scuderi was even asked to play right wing at one point.
Said Scuderi to the Chicago Tribune, "Sometimes stuff happens on the team and you have to do what you have to do."
Between Chicago and Pittsburgh, he has four points in 42 games played on the year.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
