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Nicolas Beaudin

Canadiens Place Nicolas Beaudin On Unconditional Waivers For Mutual Contract Termination

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The Canadiens placed defenseman Nicolas Beaudin on unconditional waivers with the intent to terminate his contract following a mutual agreement, the team announced Sunday.

Beaudin, 24, has not played a game for Montreal since they acquired him from the Blackhawks in an Oct. 2022 trade. He hasn’t scored in 16 games for AHL Laval this season, posting six assists and a +2 rating.

As Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports, Beaudin’s limited minor-league action this season left him unhappy with his role. He was a healthy scratch in seven of 10 games since returning from his Spengler Cup appearance with Team Canada in December.

A Chicago first-round pick in 2018, Beaudin has shown flashes of potential at the AHL level but hasn’t done so with consistency. The speedy puck-mover hasn’t played an NHL game in over two years, last suiting up for the Blackhawks in a Jan. 2022 contest in which he skated only two shifts.

Things were looking up for Beaudin after a strong showing with Laval last season. He posted two goals and 25 points in 39 games, leading Laval defensemen in points per game while tacking on a team-high +17 rating. His momentum couldn’t carry over, however, and assuming he clears waivers tomorrow, he will be free to pursue opportunities with any other NHL team.

There is likely concern from NHL scouts regarding his size – at 5-foot-11 and 185 lbs, he can get overpowered when defending more physically imposing players. That’s been one of the top reasons why consistency has eluded Beaudin throughout his pro career so far, although there is still a fair amount of point-producing potential in his game thanks to his cerebral play and high skating and passing abilities.

Beaudin signed a one-year, two-way deal with a $775K cap hit last July after reaching restricted free agency. He was set to be a RFA again this summer with arbitration rights.

Minor Transactions: 01/03/2024

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The hockey world is fulling pulling into the second half of the 2023-24 season, with the 100th anniversary of the Spengler Cup being awarded to the tourney’s host team, HC Davos, and the semi-finals of the World Juniors Championship set to begin soon. This means plenty of exciting time for international hockey, as well as plenty of roster moves, as players return from their national team back to their league play. As always, we’ll cover notable transactions here.

  • Philadelphia Flyers prospect Alexis Gendron has seen his QMJHL rights traded from the Gatineau Olympiques to the Drummondville Voltigeurs, with Gatineau receiving three draft picks in return. This must have been what Philadelphia wanted to see, as they’ve assigned Gendron back to the QMJHL for the rest of the season. The 20-year-old, former seventh-round draft pick was previously playing in his first professional season, recording five goals and seven points in 17 AHL games. Gendron has previously played four seasons in the QMJHL – including three with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada – totaling 141 points in 160 games in the league.
  • Team Canada’s Spengler Cup team has returned a quartet of players to their AHL squad. This includes the Laval Rockets’ Nicolas Beaudin, the Belleville Senators’ Dillon Heatherington, the Manitoba Moose’s Thomas Milic, and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ Ty Smith. Milic appeared in one game between the pipes for Team Canada, while Smith led the team’s defensemen with five points. Heatherington and Beaudin only combined for one assist through the tournament’s four games.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Snapshots: Diamond Sports, Sharks, McMichael, Jagr, Beaudin, Golden Knights

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Diamond Sports Group has reached a deal with the 11 NHL teams it has regional broadcast rights for to televise their games through the end of this season, sports business reporter Daniel Kaplan reports (Twitter link).  With that agreement being made through bankruptcy court, it stands to reason that those affected will not be receiving the full value of their contracts, some of which lasted until 2030.  After this season, the broadcast rights for those teams will revert to the league with future plans uncertain at this point.  However, Amazon has held discussions with some MLB teams that are in similar situations (regional rights with Diamond for this season and reverting to the league after) so it’s possible that they could look to hold talks about NHL rights as well.  Detroit, Columbus, St. Louis, Anaheim, Carolina, Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, Florida, Nashville, Dallas, and Minnesota are the teams that will be impacted by this news.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • After missing last night’s game, Sharks defensemen Jan Rutta (illness) and Calen Addison (lower-body injury) were both feeling better today and could suit up Thursday versus Arizona, relays Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now (Twitter link). Rutta has five assists and 43 blocked shots in 26 games so far this season, his first with San Jose after being acquired from Pittsburgh.  Addison, meanwhile, has picked a goal and five helpers in 19 games since being picked up last month in a trade with Minnesota.
  • Before tonight’s game against the Islanders, the Capitals announced (Twitter link) that forward Connor McMichael was a late scratch due to an illness. Matthew Phillips took his place.  McMichael is off to his best start, notching six goals and seven assists through his first 28 games; last season, he was limited to just six NHL contests, being held off the scoresheet.
  • Veteran forward Jaromir Jagr has officially started his 36th professional season, playing in his first game of the year with Kladno in his native Czechia, the team he owns. The 51-year-old played nearly 14 minutes, picking up an assist.  Jagr’s participation in that game will delay his Hockey Hall of Fame eligibility by another season.
  • The Canadiens will loan defenseman Nicolas Beaudin to Team Canada for the upcoming Spengler Cup, reports BPM Sports Radio’s Anthony Marcotte (Twitter link). The 24-year-old played in the event on a loan last year as well.  Beaudin, a 2018 first-round pick by Chicago, has been in and out of the lineup with AHL Laval this season, recording six assists in 13 games so far.
  • The Golden Knights announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Logan Thompson is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.  To get a second netminder on the roster for Thursday’s game against Carolina, Isaiah Saville was recalled from AHL Henderson.  Thompson has posted a .904 SV% in his first 19 games this season for Vegas while Saville, who was just activated from SOIR recently, has a .950 mark in three games with the Silver Knights.

Waivers: 9/30/23

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With the start of the NHL season now just ten days away, daily waiver activity will be continuing league-wide.  Here is a listing of the players that are on the wire today per various team announcements and TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).

Buffalo Sabres

G Devin Cooley
F Justin Richards
G Dustin Tokarski

Edmonton Oilers

F Drake Caggiula
F Greg McKegg

Montreal Canadiens

D Nicolas Beaudin
F Lucas Condotta
D Brady Keeper
F Mitchell Stephens

Nashville Predators

F Anthony Angello
D Kevin Gravel
G Troy Grosenick
D Jordan Gross

New York Rangers

F Jake Leschyshyn

Ottawa Senators

F Josh Currie
D Dillon Heatherington
F Garrett Pilon
D Lassi Thomson

While Ottawa’s players were announced as being waived on Friday, it was after the 1 PM CT cut-off which means their waiver clock starts today.

Vegas Golden Knights

F Byron Froese
D/F Mason Geertsen
D Dysin Mayo
F Gage Quinney
F Sheldon Rempal
F Jonas Rondbjerg

Most of the forwards on this list have cleared waivers in the past with Condotta being the lone exception as this is his first time eligible for waivers.  He spent most of last season in the minors but scored in his lone NHL appearance.  Quinney and Rempal were productive in the minors last season, averaging just shy of a point per game while Caggiula had over 50 points as well.

Among the defensemen, Thomson could be one to keep an eye on for a potential claim.  The 23-year-old was the 19th overall pick in 2019 and is still on his entry-level contract.  He hasn’t had much success at the NHL level so far but as a young right-shot defender, a rebuilding team or two might be inclined to take a flyer on him.

Mayo logged nearly 21 minutes a night on the back end for Arizona back in 2021-22 but cleared waivers last season and was eventually traded to Vegas in exchange for Shea Weber’s LTIR-eligible contract.  He has two years left on a one-way deal worth $950K per season which could scare teams off.  Beaudin is a former first-rounder himself back in 2018 (27th overall) but has just 22 NHL games under his belt, none of which came last season between Montreal and Chicago.

Grosenick and Tokarski are no strangers to the waiver wire.  Tokarski has cleared all five times while Grosenick has cleared six out of eight times he has been waived over the years.  This will be Cooley’s first time on waivers but while he had a decent season in Nashville’s system last season (posting a .909 SV% with AHL Milwaukee), it would be surprising to see him picked up.

Each player will be available to teams until 1 PM CT on Sunday.

Montreal Canadiens Sign Nicolas Beaudin, Lucas Condotta

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The Montreal Canadiens have signed a pair of depth players this morning, inking defenseman Nicolas Beaudin to a one-year, two-way contract and forward Lucas Condotta to a two-year, two-way contract.

CapFriendly reports Beaudin’s contract has an NHL salary of $775K, an AHL salary of $90K, and a minimum guaranteed salary of $110K. Condotta’s compensation hasn’t been reported yet.

A 2018 first-round pick, Beaudin found himself in the Canadiens organization this season after they acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for minor-league forward Cameron Hillis just weeks into the campaign. The move has since panned out extremely well for both Beaudin and the Habs.

The 23-year-old defenseman had gone through some troubles adjusting to the pro game while in Chicago, issues undoubtedly exacerbated by the inconsistencies of playing time during the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s also got a rather slight frame, standing at just 5-foot-11 and 168 pounds.

But things took off for the left-shot defender with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, where he scored twice and added 23 assists for 25 points in 39 games after the trade, trouncing last season’s offensive production. He saw some limited minutes at even strength, but he dominated them defensively – per data from Pick224, he was on the ice for just 16 goals at even strength in 42 total AHL games last year. He’s not expected to earn a spot with the Canadiens out of camp, but do look for him to take on an increased role in Laval next year.

The 25-year-old Condotta, meanwhile, made his NHL debut last April against the Boston Bruins, scoring a goal in the process. An undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Condotta scored 16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points in 72 games with the Rocket in his first full pro season in 2022-23. He did so largely in a bottom-six role in the minors, where he’ll likely stick around as some younger and higher-ceiling Canadiens prospects take precedence.

Beaudin will be a restricted free agent again at the end of his deal, while Condotta’s extension walks him to unrestricted free agency in 2025.

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