Radek Smolenak to Abbotsford?

[Madrox]

I was at a pub for dinner tonight, and I saw that tidbit go by on the ticker. I wondered if I'd missed a trade, but couldn't find any information at first, then I found it here: http://theahl.com/stats/transactions.php. What's the story? We must have taken him on loan from Tampa, but I thought we were short on D, not up front, and Lundmark's going back down (I assume). Doesn't seem to make a ton of sense to me.

[PIMking]

Loan.

[boogerz]

Offensive help since Backlund will most likely spend the rest of the year with the big club?

[Madrox]

Originally Posted by PIMking

Loan.

Yeah, I got that, what I'm not sure about is why. Don't know much about the guy, but he's listed as a LW, and looking at his history, he seems like a guy who can score a bit (he got 24 AHL goals last year) but will drop the gloves pretty regularly. Great and all, but this year Jaffrey, Stuart, Chucko, Armstrong, and Cunning all have more goals than him, we look like we're already full up on the wings, and with Grantham, Vandermeer, Murray, Pelech, and Watt down there, I don't think we need anyone to throw 'em. Any time we give to him is time taken away from developing our own guys, and so I don't see the benefit to us taking him on, and if he doesn't get playing time here, what's the benefit of sending him to us?

I know, I'm spending too much time on this, but it just doesn't make sense to me, and I was wondering if anyone else had some insight into this.

[jeremywilhelm]

Watt, Grantham, Vandemeer are all goons. Pelech is a defenseman. Trust me, the farm is in heavy dissarray. If it wasn't for the loaners and PTO kids, there wouldn't be a team.