Friday: Smith has cleared waivers, but was still at practice with the Sabres today.
Thursday: After 86 seconds of ice time and two penalty minutes, Dalton Smith has been placed on waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The Buffalo Sabres forward earned himself an NHL contract recently and played in one game for the team, but could now be on his way back to the minor leagues.
Smith, 27, was actually selected 34th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2010 but failed to bring any sort of offensive game to the professional level. The physical forward has 54 points in 340 career AHL regular season contests, but still earned a deal with the Sabres and a chance to finally make his NHL debut.
Though he didn’t play much, Smith was an obvious message to other players including Evan Rodrigues, who was made a healthy scratch and asked for a trade out of the organization.
There is almost no chance that Smith gets claimed at this point, given he didn’t even have an NHL contract at this point last week. He will be a recall option for Ralph Krueger and Jason Botterill down the road however, if they ever need a little extra toughness in the lineup.
GOAT
Frolik was trade #1 for the Sabres to add better overall play to the Forward group. Another acquisition like this will help the Sabres field a better playing forward group (+ when Skinner comes back).