Makes sense. His 'development' in the AHL seemed to have really hit a ceiling. A real 'tweener' player if there ever was one. Lacking the hands and vision to be a true 'top-6 scorer' but without the size/grit/toughness/defensive shutdown qualities to be a particularly desirable bottom-6 grinder.
But heading over to Europe may be the best thing for him. At the worst, he should be able to carve out a reasonable career for himself there as opposed to in the AHL, if that's what he's after. And his speed should be accentuated on the 'big ice'. Seems really unlikely to me that he takes any sort of further 'steps' in his 'development', as it seems like he's reached the limits of his abilities in terms of his offensive tools...but if he continues to round out and refine the rest of his game, maybe he garners some interest as a depth NHL guy down the line? Though it seems a longshot at this point to me.
All in all...really not sad to see him go, nice enough that we'll retain his right a bit longer should something miraculous occur. But really a 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' sort of situation. Nabbed for free, leaves having contributed a little bit to our farm team and not much else. Fair enough.