There is a report hot off the press from Bleacher Report that both Mason Raymond of the Calgary Flames and Brandon Prust of the Vancouver Canucks have been waived by their respective teams. Both players have combined for more than 1,000 regular-season games and have 116 playoff games between them. Last season, Prust played all 82 games for the Canadiens, while Raymond in 2014 had 45 points. Sportsbet's Elliotte Friedman first broke the news about their releases.
The question now becomes: Who would be more likely to end up with a team? Prust or Raymond? To me, if you depend on who can help you get goals and help a team contribute, it would probably be Raymond. It would be Prust because of a contract issue, since his contract is expiring. The only season not to pick Prust is because he is a terrible five-on-five player for the Canucks, so I don't think you should expect him to help when it comes to scoring. But since he is a good fighter and could make for someone trying to look for an enforcer, it could make sense. For Raymond, although he is a good scorer, he has been a bit rusty at late, which is why the Flames sit near the bottom of the Pacific.
Right now, Prust is more likely to get signed because of his contract and the fact that it's expiring. Raymond is still in the middle of a three-year contract that the Flames gave him, and he still will get another $3.15 million, so I would expect that no one picks him up. Still, I think in terms of offense and helping a team, Raymond seems like the better choice. He has had some success this season playing alongside Mikael Backlund and had outscored opponents at a rate of close to 2-to-1.
Right now, in terms of contracts, Prust is the better choice. But if a team is out there looking for some offense and some help in scoring goals, then that falls to Mason Raymond. I like Mason Raymond and I wish he had some more success with the Flames, but they have been out of the playoff picture for some time, so maybe this is the wake-up call for the Flames. Either way, it's Raymond paying the price and I hope he finds some success elsewhere, maybe with a team in the middle of the pact, like Anaheim who definitely needs some help scoring or New Jersey, who's close to being in the playoff picture.
I don't know who will end up being signed, but the NHL teams interested need to look at this. If they are interested in picking a player just by their contract, then Prust would be the ideal choice. However, if a team really needs some offensive skill and a chance to help themselves get into the playoff picture, then I would say to take a chance on Raymond, despite his contract. We'll see who gets picked to be on another team but either way, these guys are on the market looking for work.
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