Minor Transactions: 4/16/2026
The wave of minor-league assignments is continuing with the NHL regular season nearly completed. Pro Hockey Rumors will continue to track the movement around the AHL in the latest minor transactions tracker:
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled goalie prospect Carson Bjarnason in preperation for their first round matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bjarnason will serve as a black ace with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms eliminated from playoff contention. Bjarnason recorded 14 wins and a .887 save percentage in 32 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .881 save percentage, in two ECHL games. This was Bjarnason’s first year of professional hockey after four seasons with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. The 20 year old recorded a .903 save percentage across 156 career games in the WHL.
- The Colorado Avalanche are also padding their room of black aces, recalling forwards Alex Barre-Boulet and Jason Polin. Both players spent the bulk of their year in the AHL. Barre-Boulet led the Colorado Eagles with 26 goals and 70 points in 69 games – and added one assist in the only NHL game of his season. Polin was slightly less productive, with 21 points in 45 AHL games and no scoring in three NHL games. The duo will offer forward depth behind an Avalanche squad that has rotated through injuries this season.
- Forward Cole O’Hara could make his NHL debut in the Nashville Predators’ season finale. The 23 year old has been called up after leading the Milwaukee Admirals in goals (19) and ranking fourth in points (44) through 65 games this season. This was also O’Hara’s first pro season after three years at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He had a breakout season last year, netting 22 goals and 51 points in 40 games – 33 more points than he managed in 37 games of the 2023-24 season. O’Hara kept that scoring up through his rookie season in the AHL and could now get a chance to score against NHL talent.
- Headed back to the minors is goaltender Brandon Halverson, who recently helped the Tampa Bay Lightning respond to Jonas Johansson‘s short-term injury. Halverson recorded one loss and a .810 save percentage in 57 minutes – and two games – of NHL action this season. He started for the Syracuse Crunch for much of the year and recorded 24 wins and a .906 save percentage in 42 AHL games. He’ll now return to his post to help Syracuse keep up their strong play into the Calder Cup Playoffs.
- The Calgar Flames have also called up a goaltender. Prospect Arsenii Sergeev is on the NHL roster under emergency conditions with Devin Cooley set to miss Calgary’s season finale due to illness. Sergeev will make his NHL debut in game 82. The 24 year old recorded five wins and a .898 save percentage in 28 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .922 save percentage, in 12 ECHL games. Sergeev was a strong starter in college, recording save percentages north of .910 in two seasons with the University of Connecticut and one season at Pennsylvania State University. Thursday could be the bright side to a quiet season for the first-year pro.
- Top Edmonton Oilers prospect Isaac Howard has been loaned to the AHL. He will support the Bakersfield Condors’ push in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Howard scored 22 goals and 47 points in 45 AHL games this season. He ranked second in goals on Bakersfield and was the only Condor to score above a point-per-game pace this season. Howard also scored five points in the first 29 games of his NHL career this season. The 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner is also a first-year pro and should fill a substantial role in the AHL postseason.
- The Washington Capitals have assigned 2025 second-round pick Milton Gastrin to the AHL following the end of his season in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan. Gastrin racked up 10 goals and 24 points in 39 games in Sweden’s second-tier pro league and added four more points in 13 playoff games. He scored 42 points in 40 games in Sweden’s U20 league in the 2024-25 season. The bulky Gastrin should bring a boost of forechecking pressure and playmaking ability to the Hershey Bears lineup just in time for their perennial run into the postseason.
- A cohort of top prospects is headed to the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Detroit Red Wings have assigned Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Carter Mazur, Axel Sandin Pellikka, and Dominik Shine to the minor leagues. Brandsegg-Nygard finished the year third on the Griffins in scoring with 44 points in 58 games. He added one assist in 14 NHL games. Shine finished the year with 37 points in 38 AHL games and three points in 18 NHL games. Mazur was also a point-per-game player in the minors, with 15 points in 14 AHL games – but no scoring in eight NHL appearances. Of the bunch, Sandin-Pellikka was the only to play the bulk of his year in the NHL. He scored 21 points in 68 games of his first season in North America. The quartet should each assume top-end roles on a Griffins lineup that has added a substantial amount of talent late in the season.
Jets Sign Garrett Brown To Two-Year Deal
The Winnipeg Jets have added a collegiate national champion to their ranks. Defenseman Garrett Brown has signed a two-year contract with the Jets following the end of his junior year at the University of Denver. Winnipeg drafted Brown in the 2022 fourth-round after his first season with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers.
Brown, 22, has long been regarded as a mobile, two-way defenseman. He grew up through the San Jose Sharks AAA program, where he played alongside fellow NHL prospects including Calgary Flames forward Cade Littler and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aiden Celebrini. Brown was a third-round selection in the 2020 USHL Futures Draft and debuted with the Musketeers at the end of the following season. He joined Sioux City full-time in the 2021-22 season and left his rookie USHL year with 17 points in 72 games. More notably, he left his rookie season with a USHL championship, filling a third-pair role on a Sioux City squad that featured seven other NHL prospects. Brown took on an assistant captain role with Sioux City, before a mid-year move to the Waterloo Black Hawks, in his second USHL season. He finished the year with 18 points in 54 games.
Winning tendencies followed Brown to the college level. He was an extra defenseman for much of the 2023-24 season but did manage four points in the eight games he stepped into. More than that, he helped spread some luck on a Denver Pioneers squad that went on to win the 2024 National Championship. Brown earned a full-time role in 2024-25 and scored eight points in 42 games, a mark that grew to 14 points in 34 games in another Championship-winning year this season.
Through it all, Brown has stood out for his fundamental defense and active stick. He has never finished a season with a negative plus-minus and found his way into routine minutes with the Pioneers. Brown will now push into the pro flight hoping that his strong stick and ability to defend tempo will be enough to cement a role in the AHL. The Manitoba Moose are headed for the Calder Cup Playoffs and have already added late-year additions Alfons Freij and Lukas Gustafsson to the blue-line. Brown will be the right-handed compliment to those lefty additions, and should compete with bruiser Tyrel Bauer for minutes.
Panthers Place Nolan Foote, Noah Gregor On Waivers
The Panthers placed forwards Nolan Foote and Noah Gregor on waivers Thursday, per PuckPedia. The move will allow them to be assigned to AHL Charlotte for the Calder Cup Playoffs after they presumably clear tomorrow. Both required waivers for reassignment because they’d each played at least 10 NHL games since they cleared last.
Foote, 25, was a first-round pick back by the Lightning in 2019 but has ended up with their cross-state rivals after failing to ever lock down a full-time NHL role. He was traded to the Devils in the 2020 Blake Coleman swap. He ended up appearing in 30 games over five consecutive seasons for New Jersey but never hit double-digit appearances in any one campaign. That led New Jersey to non-tender him last summer, and he subsequently landed a two-way deal with Florida.
He was never really expected to compete for an NHL job, and for the first several months of the season, he was solely the AHL depth they brought him in to be. In 54 games for Charlotte, he had 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points. A strong top-nine AHL piece for several years now, with good size at 6’3″ and 196 lbs, Florida’s rash of injuries forced him up onto the NHL roster last month.
Foote ended up skating in a career-high 12 games for the Cats over the last few weeks of the season, notching a goal with a -4 rating while averaging 10:48 per night. He offered up some physicality with 27 hits, but his impacts outside of that were limited. Florida controlled 50.2% of shot attempts but just 43.3% of expected goals when he was on the ice at even strength.
Since Foote has played under 80 NHL games with three years of professional experience and is now at the age-25 cutoff, he’s eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer. Florida will not be able to retain his rights with a qualifying offer and will instead need to extend him before July 1 if they’re interested in keeping him away from the open market.
As for Gregor, the 27-year-old vet had a slightly more expanded role in Florida this season, again due to injuries ahead of him on the depth chart. He was brought in for training camp on a professional tryout before ultimately signing a two-way deal in the wake of injuries to Aleksander Barkov, Tomáš Nosek, and Matthew Tkachuk in the early going.
As has been the case for the last couple of years, the speedy winger has struggled to generate a strong two-way impact. He did tickle the twine four times in 37 outings for Florida, adding five assists for nine points, but did so with a -10 rating while averaging a career-low 9:34 of ice time per game. He’s never been much of a finisher – in fact, he’s never had a 10% shooting rate in all seven of his NHL seasons. He’s also not throwing the body as much as he used to and had poor possession impacts across the board in 2025-26.
Gregor will be a UFA this summer for the fourth year in a row. He was on a three-year non-tender streak but is now old enough to be a “real” UFA. At this rate, his hopes of landing a one-way deal this summer have likely dried up. Even in Charlotte, he hasn’t been overly impressive with an 11-6–17 scoring line in 25 outings.
Penguins Place Matt Dumba On Unconditional Waivers
The Penguins placed defenseman Mathew Dumba on unconditional waivers Thursday for the purposes of terminating his contract, per PuckPedia.
Since Pittsburgh’s regular season schedule has concluded, the pending unrestricted free agent won’t miss out on any pay. Instead, the move relieves Dumba, who was on assignment to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, of his obligation to report there for the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Dumba will also get a leg up on trying to find a new home for 2026-27 if he opts to continue his playing career. An NHL role, or even a non-two-way deal, seems highly unlikely, however. Once a top-four fixture for the Wild, the 31-year-old’s game has been in decline for several years now. He still managed to land a two-year, $7.5MM contract from the right-shot-needy Stars in free agency in 2024. Dallas was hoping his underwhelming period from 2022-24 was a flash in the pan for a player who was still only 29 years old when he signed the deal, but it ended up being his new norm.
Last season in Dallas, Dumba went from starting the year on a pairing with Miro Heiskanen to being a healthy scratch for the entirety of their playoff run. Through 63 regular-season games, he only managed a goal and nine assists with a -5 rating while averaging just 15:18 of ice time per game. The cap-strapped Stars then surrendered a second-round pick to the Penguins last summer for them to take on the last year of his contract.
Even on a Pittsburgh defense that had plenty of question marks at the beginning of the season, Dumba couldn’t lock down a role. He essentially started the year as a #7 option – only suiting up 11 times through the first two months – before landing on and clearing waivers. In those few NHL outings, he had a 1-2–3 scoring line with a -5 rating, 12 blocks, and 16 hits in bottom-pairing duties. Pittsburgh was outscored 9-5 in Dumba’s 5-on-5 minutes, and they only controlled 46.2% of shot attempts with him on the ice.
Dumba accepted the assignment to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but he hasn’t played since early March. He showed he can still be an impact player at the minor-league level at least, potting 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 27 games with a +3 rating. Still, the 6’0″, 191-lb righty hasn’t been the legitimate two-way threat he used to be in Minnesota for several years now. It wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see him land a tryout or two-way offer before next fall, but it would be a shock to see him on an opening night roster.
Blue Jackets Reassign Zach Aston-Reese, Luca Del Bel Belluz
The Blue Jackets have reassigned forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Luca Del Bel Belluz to AHL Cleveland, per a team announcement. While Columbus isn’t a part of the postseason picture, their minor-league feeder is, so the duo will be able to get some playoff action in after all.
The move could mark the final note on Aston-Reese’s transactions log in his Blue Jackets tenure. A pending unrestricted free agent, the 31-year-old had a trying campaign that’s unlikely to result in him being brought back unless there’s mutual interest in him playing more of a minor-league role.
Once a depth defensive standout for the Penguins, it’s actually been a rocky few years for the 31-year-old. He was once a lineup fixture but lost his grip on that almost overnight, failing to land a deal in the 2023 offseason and getting released from a tryout with the Hurricanes before eventually landing a two-way deal with the Red Wings at the beginning of the year. He ended up clearing waivers before spending most of the season in the AHL. He joined the Golden Knights the following summer but was claimed off waivers by Columbus during training camp.
That move in October 2024 precipitated Aston-Reese’s return to NHL relevancy. The checking winger re-emerged with a relative bang and earned a one-year extension in the process, making a career-high 79 appearances for the Jackets while also setting new best marks in assists (11), shots on goal (101), and blocks (58). While his -15 rating was cause for concern, he spent most of the season on a bottom-six checking unit with Justin Danforth and Mathieu Olivier that actually posted strong underlying metrics, controlling 54.6% of expected goals at 5-on-5 while outscoring opponents 13-9, per MoneyPuck.
This year, with Danforth gone and the offseason acquisitions of Charlie Coyle, Isac Lundeström, and Miles Wood pushing him down the depth chart, Aston-Reese’s impact was considerably more measured. He started the year in a regular role but was a healthy scratch for the first time by the end of October. He continued to fall in and out of the lineup until eventually landing on waivers in January. He cleared and was on assignment to Cleveland until getting called up at the beginning of this month in response to a Lundeström injury concern, although he played just once on his seven-game recall.
Aston-Reese’s NHL showing this year concludes with a 1-4–5 scoring line in 27 outings. He posted a -1 rating, saw decreased penalty-kill responsibilities, and averaged just 9:44 of ice time per game while racking up 78 hits. He’s also scored seven goals and 14 points in 25 AHL contests with Cleveland, where he’ll play a significant factor in the postseason.
Del Bel Belluz, on the other hand, has a clearer future in Columbus. The Jackets selected the 22-year-old middleman 44th overall in 2022, and they have to be pleased with his development, particularly offensively, thus far. He’s already worked his way up to being a consistent recall option, now making 30 NHL appearances over the last three seasons, where he has three goals and seven assists while averaging 11:27 per game. His ice time was down to about nine minutes per game across 14 showings this year, resulting in him generating only an assist and 11 shots on goal, with a -2 rating.
In Cleveland, the 6’1″ center is a star. After erupting for 27 goals and 53 points in 61 outings last season, he’s now over a point per game with a 22-35–57 scoring line in 53 games in 2025-26. He’s already received AHL All-Star honors. But, as The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler points out, he’s the type of prospect who does a lot of things well but doesn’t truly excel in any given area. As such, he sits down at #7 in the organizational prospect rankings, in part due to the difficulty of projecting where exactly he could slot in down the line amid a wealth of other young centers in the system.
Penguins Assign Five To AHL
Wednesday: The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned McGroarty, Koivunen, and Koppanen, along with wingers Avery Hayes and Rafael Harvey-Pinard, back to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. All five got into at least one game in recent days.
Saturday: With the Penguins now having secured a playoff spot, they’re electing to get some players with nagging injuries some rest. That means that several players needed to be recalled to have a full roster available for their game today against Washington. Those promotions have been made as the team announced (Twitter link) that forwards Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, and Joona Koppanen have been recalled on an emergency basis from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. With the emergency designation, none of them will count toward their post-deadline recall limit of five.
McGroarty is up with Pittsburgh for the fourth time this season. He has suited up in 21 games so far in a bottom-six role, picking up two goals and three assists while averaging 11:46 per night. The 2022 first-round pick has been much more productive in the minors, however, with eight goals and 22 assists in 28 games. With many key players out of the lineup today, McGroarty should have a chance to play in more of an offensive role than he has had most nights with Pittsburgh this season.
Koivunen, meanwhile, is also up for his fourth stint of the season. But unlike McGroarty, he has spent more time with Pittsburgh than in the minors. In 36 games at the top level, the 22-year-old has two goals and five assists while averaging 12:29 per night. Unsurprisingly, he has been a much better producer in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, tallying 11 goals and 25 assists in 32 appearances.
As for Koppanen, he’s also getting his fourth promotion of the year. While he hasn’t played a lot with Pittsburgh, he has had to clear waivers twice already this season. In 10 NHL outings, the 28-year-old has just one assist. In the minors, he has fared better, picking up eight goals and 15 assists in 42 contests. A pending unrestricted free agent, a report surfaced last month that suggested he’s likely to sign in Sweden for next season.
For their game today, the team announced (Twitter link) that numerous players are unavailable due to day-to-day injuries. Those include forwards Sidney Crosby (lower body), Benjamin Kindel (upper body), Evgeni Malkin (upper body), and Bryan Rust (lower body). On the back end, Erik Karlsson (lower body), Kris Letang (upper body), and Parker Wotherspoon (upper body) are all sidelined. Additionally, center Connor Dewar is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury of his own, putting his availability to start the playoffs in jeopardy.
Canadiens Assign Vinzenz Rohrer To AHL
With his season in Switzerland now over, Canadiens prospect Vinzenz Rohrer is off to his next team. The Canadiens announced today that they’ve assigned the forward to AHL Laval.
Montreal selected the 21-year-old in the third round back in 2022, picking him 75th overall. At the time, he had just completed his first season in North America with OHL Ottawa. He returned to the 67’s the following season but then made the decision to leave junior hockey while still having eligibility to begin his professional career.
That led Rohrer to Zurich where he spent the past three seasons in the NL. He had 19 points in his rookie year, followed by 25 in 52 games in 2024-25. That performance, along with two good showings at the Worlds in as many years, was good enough to get his entry-level deal from the Canadiens, along with a training camp invite. Ultimately cut in the preseason, Rohrer struggled upon his return to Zurich and wound up with a quiet showing overall, one that saw him limited to four goals and eight assists in 41 games.
Unlike many prospects who have been assigned to the minors in recent days, Rohrer is eligible for recall to Montreal since his contract started this season. However, a promotion almost certainly won’t be in the cards and instead, he’ll look to get into the lineup with the Rocket before the playoffs get underway next week.
Ducks Recall Tristan Luneau
The Ducks have added some extra depth on the back end for their regular season finale tomorrow against Nashville. The team announced that they’ve recalled blueliner Tristan Luneau from AHL San Diego.
It’s the first recall of the season for the 22-year-old although it won’t be his first taste of NHL action. Luneau got into 13 games with Anaheim over the past two seasons, picking up a goal and two assists back in the 2023-24 season. He was held off the scoresheet in six NHL contests in 2024-25.
This season, Luneau has had another productive year with the Gulls, even if his overall numbers are down. Through 69 games this season, he has 10 goals and 31 assists. While his point total is down from a year ago (when he had 52 in 59 outings), he still sits 11th overall in points from AHL defensemen.
Luneau has one more year left on his entry-level deal after this one and, at this point, it seems like he’ll likely be ticketed for San Diego again next season. That will likely be the outcome that comes his way over the next couple of days as he’s likely being brought up to give one of their top six a rest heading into the playoffs before returning to the Gulls for the AHL postseason which gets underway next week.
Blackhawks Sign GM Kyle Davidson To Contract Extension
It hasn’t been a successful last few seasons in the win-loss column for the Blackhawks as the team is set to miss the postseason for the sixth straight year and eighth time in the last nine seasons. However, the general consensus is that the team is on the way up as their rebuild continues.
Someone who feels that way is Team Chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz. He revealed on CHSN during tonight’s pregame show (Twitter link) that the team has signed GM Kyle Davidson to a contract extension. Terms of the deal were not revealed. Minutes after that, the team officially announced the extension, noting it’s a multi-year agreement. Wirtz released the following statement:
Kyle’s exceptional body of work to date has set us down the path of bringing sustainable, championship-caliber hockey back to Chicago. In a short amount of time, he’s rebuilt the team through strong drafting and player development, delivering a league-leading prospect pool and the beginnings of our future core. He alongside Head Coach Jeff Blashill have redefined our locker room’s culture and mentality, and we are seeing improvements in all of the underlying areas that make winning possible. We believe in Kyle’s vision for this team and remain fully committed to his plan to return the Blackhawks to the top of our sport.
Davidson is in his fourth season at the helm in Chicago after taking on the job in the 2022-23 season. Initially promoted as an interim GM, the interim tag was taken off in March 2022. As Wirtz indicated in his announcement, Davidson was tasked with restocking a prospect pool that, at the time, was one of the weaker ones in the NHL.
To accomplish that objective, Davidson embarked on a full-scale rebuild, trading away several key veterans and even some younger core pieces that didn’t fit in the plans. In doing so, the team dropped sharply in the standings, but doing so allowed them to secure several key cogs, including centers Connor Bedard and Anton Frondell and defenseman Artyom Levshunov. Additionally, moving out Kirby Dach allowed them to add the draft pick that secured them Frank Nazar, who has quickly become a core piece as well.
But while Davidson has indeed put together a very strong prospect pool that’s set to graduate some more youngsters in short order, that’s only one part of getting this team back to playoff contention. He has brought in quite a few veterans in recent years to either act as bridge players to the prospects or, more recently, serve as pieces to help the team’s floor. Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen were signed in free agency while Andre Burakovsky was added via trade to try to help push the team forward while also bringing in a more established head coach in Blashill. Instead, while they’ve added nine points from a year ago in the standings, they’re actually scoring even less than a year ago, despite better than a point-per-game showing from Bedard.
For the Blackhawks to truly take that next step forward, they will need to find a way to add more prominent veterans to help bring the team along while their youngsters continuing to improve will also aid in that objective. Davidson has a little more than $40MM in cap space for next season as things stand, per PuckPedia, so they certainly have the flexibility needed to add more core pieces to their roster. With this vote of confidence, Wirtz is banking on Davidson being able to do just that.
Devils Recall Nico Daws, Topias Vilen
April 15: With the season now over, the team announced that they’ve sent Daws, Vilen, and center Marc McLaughlin back to Utica.
April 10: The Devils recalled goaltender Nico Daws and defenseman Topias Vilen from AHL Utica on Friday, per a team announcement. They’ll be on hand for tomorrow’s game against the Red Wings.
With New Jersey not headed to the playoffs, they’re likely taking an opportunity to get some younger faces into the lineup over their final few games. There’s more of a direct need for Vilen’s services. The 23-year-old lefty could make his NHL debut tomorrow in place of Luke Hughes, who opted for an early end to his season to undergo a much-needed shoulder surgery.
Hughes was shut down before last night’s game against the Penguins, meaning Dennis Cholowski, the team’s only healthy extra on the blue line, dressed in his stead. It was the 28-year-old’s first appearance since being recalled in early March and his first NHL game since Dec. 14. After he posted a -2 rating in 17:40 of ice time, it’s no surprise to see New Jersey want to get a younger, higher-upside face in the lineup for their last three games.
Vilen is now in his third season stateside. A fifth-round pick by the Devils back in 2021, the 6’1″ lefty has been a consistent two-way piece in Utica with a career 7-70–77 scoring line in 171 AHL games with a +5 rating. That includes a career-high four goals and 20 assists for 24 points in 59 appearances this season.
Selected from Pelicans in Finland’s Liiga, he checks in as the #11 prospect in New Jersey’s pool and #3 among left-handed defenders behind 2024 10th overall pick Anton Silayev (#2) and 2022 fourth-rounder Daniil Orlov (#6), per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. He’s shown enough in his toolkit at the AHL level that he could end up being a bottom-pairing, penalty-killing staple for the Devils in the next couple of years. His entry-level contract is wrapping up this summer, but given his consistency in minor league play, he’s a strong candidate to receive a qualifying offer.
The 25-year-old Daws already has 48 career starts and 53 appearances to his name, but just one of them has come this season. The Devils’ third-stringer got a lone early-season tryout against the Wild back on Oct. 22 while Jacob Markström was dealing with a lower-body injury, allowing just one goal on 31 shots for a shimmering .968 SV% in a 4-1 win.
Daws is an interesting study. The 2020 third-rounder is certainly too old now to be considered a true prospect, and his AHL track record isn’t great. He has an .891 SV% and 2.84 GAA in 42 showings for Utica this season, which will be his third straight finishing below a .900 SV% in the minors.
His recent NHL samples, however, have been excellent. On top of his great start back in October, he had a similarly strong .939 SV%, 1.60 GAA, and 3-1-0 record in six showings in #3 duties last year. That’s good for 7.0 goals saved above expected in his last seven NHL appearances, per MoneyPuck.
Markström is signed through 2027-28, and veteran backup Jake Allen is under contract through 2029-30, so there’s no clear pathway yet for Daws to see more NHL ice next season. He’s in the last year of his contract but is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, so the Devils can easily retain him if they choose, knowing he might not clear waivers in the fall.