March 20: Myers and Desrosiers have cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the minor leagues. Mayhew was claimed by the Anaheim Ducks and will stay in the NHL for now.
March 19: With there being just two days before the trade deadline, there should be an uptick of waiver activity before then. That started today as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Philippe Myers (Predators), Gerry Mayhew (Flyers), and Phillipe Desrosiers (Jets) are all on waivers.
Myers is easily the headline player on this list. His stock has fallen sharply since establishing himself as a regular on Philadelphia’s back end in 2019-20. He was part of the Ryan Ellis traded over the summer with the hope that a change of scenery would get him going again. That hasn’t happened. Instead, the 25-year-old has played in just 27 games this season while spending even more time as a healthy scratch. With 142 games of NHL experience over four seasons and being a big right-shot defender, Myers could, in theory, be appealing to some teams. However, he has a $2.55MM AAV through next season and his salary jumps to $3.8MM in 2022-23. That will certainly limit his suitors which explains why he’s on the waiver wire today and not being traded. Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press suggests (Twitter link) that the Flyers could be a team to claim Myers knowing that they’re likely to move pending UFA Justin Braun by Monday’s trade deadline.
Mayhew has played in 29 games with Philadelphia this season, his longest stretch of NHL action and he has been somewhat productive with six goals although he has yet to record an assist while logging over 12 minutes a game. The 29-year-old has been a top scorer at the AHL level for the last several years and has 16 points in 24 games with Lehigh Valley of the AHL this season. Mayhew is making $800K at the NHL level this season and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
As for Desrosiers, his placement means that he has agreed to an NHL deal with Winnipeg with the team announcing it will carry a $750K cap hit. The 26-year-old has played in three games with their AHL affiliate in Manitoba this season but has spent the majority of the year with Trois-Rivieres of the ECHL. He’ll continue to serve as extra depth for them but will now be eligible to be recalled if they need him. The Jets had 10 open contract slots out of the maximum of 50 so there’s no risk in them handing out this contract.