A year ago at this time goaltender Alex Auld was the heir apparent to Roberto Luongo. Now he's an ex-Panther.

On Monday Auld was left off coach Jacques Martin's list of six players who will receive qualifying offers from the Panthers for the upcoming season.

The team instead signed backup goalie Craig Anderson to a two-year contract believed to be worth slightly more than $1 million.

— Palm Beach Post

A lot of people are going to invoke the Luongo trade given this news, and that's fair enough given Auld was one of the trio of players Mike Keenan received for the star netminder. But it should also be noted that Bryan Allen has turned into a top-pairing defender for the Panthers, something that lessens the downright awfulness of that deal slightly.

Oh so slightly.

The move to bring in Tomas Vokoun over the weekend was the end of the line for Auld, which is unfortunate given he has shown some ability as a starter and had earned, I think, at least a job as an NHL backup. Now, it's likely back to the AHL for the youngster.

In conclusion: Florida is a mess of a franchise, and Martin is essentially cleaning up the mess left from previous administrations. Auld's a casualty of that fact, but you can't tell me he isn't a superior backup over Craig Anderson.

The Canucks would do well to reacquire Auld and stick him in behind Luongo for 2007-08.