Hans Benson signs with the S. F. Bulls…

From: Tom

Comments: Hans Benson signs with the S. F. Bulls, and isn’t Jason Lockhart, their PR man, from Condorstown also?

Reply: Yes, indeed, Hans has signed with the Bulls. Being that he is from the Bay Area, it wasn’t much of a surprise. I was asked the other day why he wasn’t protected, which is a simple answer: not many teams send Qualifying Offers to veterans, and Benson is a veteran player (more than 260 professional games). Veterans become free agents after the month that the QO is on the table, thus making it more valuable to use a QO on a non-veteran player.

And yes, Jason Lockhart is also a former member of Condorstown. He served as play-by-play voice alongside Kevin Bartl in 2009-10. He left Bako to take the radio gig with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, where he remained for two seasons before returning to California… clearly, living in Cali is better than digging your car out of the snow of upstate New York five months out of the year.

-The Mailbag Guy