You can get away with lack of skating ability (or even any defensive ability in the case of Jordan Subban, who actually was selected for a AHL allstar game like Clendening was as well) in the AHL. He was a losing scratch ticket moved for a unscratched ticket. Horrible pro evaluation.
Failing to make the squad on a deep team (which the Canes did have back then - a deep blueline) is a far cry from sticking on a bad team (OJ for instance).
We'll have to agree to disagree on this subject (if for no other reason, Forsling wasn't subject to waivers for several years when JB dealt him). Given the empty prospect/farm system Benning inherited from Gillis, he couldn't afford to take short-cut solutions. Or if he did, make sure that 'quick fix' is actually going to help the team.