Good news first- the latest podcast is available, which finishes our season preview.  We’ll be each posting here with a recap of our previews in brief; I encourage you to listen to the individual episodes if you want more explanation and witty banter.

Bad news is the McLaren situation has come to a unfortunate end: TSN reports that McLaren is now on waivers, along with a whole truckload of other players around the league.  Whether he is claimed or not, McLaren’s $2.5M salary will not count against the salary cap unless he clears and the Sharks decide to bring him back.  That situation is so unlikely it’s almost not worth mentioning.  This means that the Sharks were unable to reach a trade agreement with anyone.  With the Semenov, Plihal, and perhaps Friesen deals yet to be posted, it just wasn’t possible for the Sharks to take a regular NHLer in return and be responsible for more salary.

It’s really an unfitting end for a very good player.  Once the Blake signing and the Boyle trade happened, it became clear that McLaren was the odd man out, and the difficult part was that it was due to his salary, and not his playing ability.  Well, I guess that’s not entirely true.  If McLaren were an All-Star offensive defenseman, then the Sharks wouldn’t have gone out and gotten those guys.  It’s certainly not Kyle’s fault- the salary cap era has created this shrinking middle class of players- players better than entry level or journeyman guys, but too expensive because the superstars are getting so much money, creating cap pressure.  This is why guys like Steve Montador and Semenov have jobs, but McLaren and Marek Malik don’t.  McLaren isn’t the first casualty of this unfortunate circumstance, and he won’t be the last.  I just hope he lands on his feet somewhere quickly, and has a productive last few years of his career.

Stay classy, 4.  You’ll be missed.

Update:  If this isn’t a fitting tribute, I don’t know what is.