Nov 29: Perhaps surprisingly, Stralman has indeed cleared waivers and can be assigned to the minor leagues to make room for Forbort.
Nov 28: After playing just 8:44 in his last appearance with the Boston Bruins, Anton Stralman finds himself on waivers today. The veteran defenseman is available for claim, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, which would potentially open up a roster spot for the soon-to-return Derek Forbort.
Stralman, 36, signed a one-year, $1MM contract with the Bruins in October, giving the team a veteran defenseman to lean on while they dealt with injuries. Now, after eight relatively underwhelming appearances, the team needs the cap space and the roster spot. Stralman failed to record a point in his games as a Bruin, though seven of the eight did result in wins. In two of those, he even logged more than 19 minutes, though the ice time has been more difficult to come by as the season progressed.
It will be interesting to see if a defense-needy team takes a shot on the veteran right-hander. Stralman has more than 900 games of NHL experience and was once a top-pairing two-way option, capable of supporting more offensive-minded players. In 2014-15, skating for much of the year next to a young Victor Hedman, he finished 13th in Norris Trophy voting.
That defenseman is long gone, but there’s at least reason to believe he could still help a team’s bottom pair. As recently as last season, he logged more than 21 minutes a night for the Arizona Coyotes, racking up 23 points despite brutal deployment numbers – receiving almost nothing but defensive zone starts to help protect some of the team’s younger options. For teams dealing with multiple injuries on the back end, he could add some stability.
Maybe a leafs reunion
Makes sense. If they see Stralman as an upgrade on one of Mete or Hollowell (and I think he is) then the fit is good.
With Toronto at 50 contracts, they will have to trade one in order to take on another contract.
Now if they could only launch Jakub Zboril into the sun then we might get somewhere. On most nights I would rather have Stralman than Zboril.
Be very surprised if he’s not claimed.
… and might well be a bottom-feeder that does so, in the anticipation of being able to flip him to the next team with an injury-ravaged D-corps.
Or a team like Arizona uses him to back fill after they move other guys and if he plays poorly…oh well…
Trade a Chychrun. Roster a Stralman. Draft a Bedard.
I just hope the Lightning can resist this temptation.
UPDATE: Am very surprised he was not claimed.
Dubas is on hold on the phone…,
Stralman clears. Teams know the bruins need to move cap or play short-handed. All leverage is against them and they will need to package a pick, prospect, or move on from a player they don’t want to.
My guess is that Grzelcyk could be gone and replaced with Ahcan. The two offer similar styles. I would prefer they keep Grz especially given their hot start but tough decisions have to be made.
From my perspective, Ryan Mast is a Brandon Carlo 2.0, but Mast isn’t ready and they’re in win-now mode. The Bruins could conceivably move Carlo for a higher pick or two and free up some cap space at the same time.
Issue with that is that the Bruins are short on RHD, but they’ve shown a willingness / borderline fearlessness to play players on their offside all season. Plus Clifton is earning his stripes and will probably get close to Reilly money next year. Need space for Pasta, Clifton, at least 1 center, and Swayman.
So far I haven’t seen anything from Ahcan to suggest he’s an NHL-caliber player as of yet. A whole lot of “meh.”