Two players were placed on waivers Sunday as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Vancouver’s Alex Biega and Winnipeg’s Marko Dano have been placed on the waiver wire.
Dano could be an interesting player for teams looking for a winger. The 23-year-old has been unable to grab a full-time role with the Jets over the last few years and now the 2013 first-rounder will be exposed to waivers and could be a legitimate candidate for a team to grab, albeit one who has struggled adjusting to the NHL. However, a new opportunity could change everything. Dano has played 130 NHL games over the course of his career, but just played in 23 last season, putting up two goals and an assist. In 82 games with the Jets, he’s posted 10 goals and 12 assists.
Dano may have been made expendable as Nic Petan is ready to return from the non-roster list, but that hasn’t happened yet. Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun speculates that Winnipeg attempted to trade Dano, but failed to find any takers. The team opted to put Dano on waivers rather than send Brendan Lemieux to the minors.
Biega wasn’t much of a surprise as the team announced those intentions Saturday, but couldn’t put him on waivers until this morning. The team had to make room for forward Antoine Roussel and were forced to make a move, but used provision 16.12b in the CBA to make Biega a non-roster player until he could be waived. The 30-year-old defenseman has played the role of an emergency defenseman for Vancouver for a number of years as he’s appeared sporadically over the past three seasons, totaling 131 games in three seasons, while playing just 15 with the Utica Comets.