Great pick-up. Really. He had a history of being a third liner and he is fast and gets pucks to the net, but he hasn't fit in yet. Hertl and Nieto weren't guarantees to make it, Havlat has a tendency to get hurt, Wingles showed promise, but hand't put it together, Sheppard hadn't really shown promise, Burish isn't great, and Brown wasn't here.
At the start of the year we had:
Top 6: Thornton, Marleau, Couture, Pavelski, Burns (5)
Top 9 if healthy: Havlat (6)
Likely top 9: Torres, Wingels (8)
4th line: Burish, Desjardins, Sheppard (11)
Rookie potential roster: Hertl, Nieto, Hamilton
Call up: Kearns, McCarthy
Kennedy despite his (now, to me) apparent flaws still could have ended up on our third line fairly easily, and having a 27 year-old cup winner (as part of Pens third line), isn't a bad person to have for depth.
I'd rather get rid of Burish for cap space, as he may find a spot more effectively next year (though I doubt Sheppard, Nieto, Hertl aren't going anywhere). If not, I could see him going to a team like Edmonton for a early 3th/4th, or another team with a bad bottom 6.
New depth:
Top 6: Hertl, Thornton, Burns, Marleau, Couture, Nieto, Pavelski, Wingels
Top 6 scratched: Havlat
Bottom 6: Torres, Desi, Sheppard, Brown
Depth: Burish, Kennedy
Call Ups: Hamilton, Kearns, McArthur