Hard to get value for him in a trade until he proves that contract is a worthwhile investment.
Which is why I don't think anyone will trade for him, especially with that second year at $4.5M cap hit. There's no reason to move him - it's like the Drouin situation - just let it play out and have him work his way back into the lineup. Making matters worse: I doubt McPhee wants to bring back a waiver-eligible player, and it's not worth it to waste a retention slot on him, so the field of potential trade partners could be non-existent under those circumstances.
He’ll probably end up going back to the KHL.
If he wants to walk away from the remaining money on his contract to play in the Olympics, he has every right. I just don't think he and Svoboda will do that, but I could be wrong.
How can he prove himself playing with grinders 10 minutes a night? Truly ridiculous
He played throughout training camp and preseason with Marchessault and Smith, and he wasn't very impressive by all accounts. At first, we all assumed the demotion was related to his waiver-exempt status, but now it seems as though his performance is being called into question. We can nitpick about him only getting three games, but we don't know what the coaching staff thought of his work ethic in training camp.