Makes sense. I think they really just wanted to move Rathbone out. He's not going anywhere in Vancouver's system, so in the meantime, he was just clogging up offensive minutes that'd be better spent on various other guys who
might still have a future for the Canucks. I think it was pretty clear that Rathbone also just wanted out. I think he saw the dead end there too.
He's not a bad gamble on a "change of scenery" sort of deal. But it's a tough row to hoe for small, defensively porous offensive rover defencemen. There really aren't many opportunities out there for a soft little "powerplay / offensive specialist" anymore. Teams only have 2 real powerplay defencemen and one of them is usually kind of an afterthought. Outside of that sort of role, i'm not sure what he really has to contribute. But he can put up points at the AHL level if given that run out and minutes. Not sure how that really works with Ty Smith around already. But...