at CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment
Another 12 players have hit the waiver wire today as part of training camp cuts across the league, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. All of the 25 players on waivers yesterday cleared without incident, he adds.
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
F Travis Boyd
F Brendan Gaunce
F Devin Shore
San Jose Sharks
F Justin Bailey
D Jimmy Schuldt
St. Louis Blues
Utah Hockey Club
at CDT | by Brian La Rose 7 Comments
09/29: All players on Saturday’s waiver wire have cleared, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
09/28: With the regular season fast approaching, activity on the waiver wire is quickly picking up. We’ll keep tabs on who has been waived today here. This post will be updated as more placements come in.
Calgary Flames (per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman)
D Jonathan Aspirot
F Clark Bishop
Colorado Avalanche (per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman)
D Wyatt Aamodt
G Kevin Mandolese
D Keaton Middleton
Nashville Predators (per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman)
F Anthony Angello
D Kevin Gravel
F Jake Lucchini
New York Islanders (per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman)
Seattle Kraken (per team announcement)
Utah Hockey Club (per team announcement)
Vegas Golden Knights (per team announcement and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman)
F Callahan Burke
F Grigori Denisenko
D Mason Geertsen
D Robert Hagg
F Mason Morelli
D Dysin Mayo
F Gage Quinney
Washington Capitals
F Ethen Frank
D Hardy Haman Aktell
F Alex Limoges
D Chase Priskie
F Riley Sutter
As for yesterday’s group, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that all players cleared waivers.
at CDT | by Brennan McClain 1 Comment
A growing list of players is hitting the waiver wire today as teams continue to trim their rosters heading into the 2024-25 NHL regular season. The Vancouver Canucks became the first team to test waivers by putting defensemen Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo through and both have cleared this afternoon. PuckPedia announced the list of players on the wire for the next 24 hours and the waiver priority will still be the reverse order of last year’s standings until November 1st.
Columbus Blue Jackets (confirmed in team announcement)
G Zachary Sawchenko (reassignment to AHL Cleveland)
New York Rangers
F Alex Belzile (reassignment to AHL Hartford)
D Ben Harpur (reassignment to AHL Hartford)
F Jake Leschyshyn (reassignment to AHL Hartford)
Ottawa Senators (confirmed in team announcement)
D Jeremy Davies (reassignment to AHL Belleville)
D Maxence Guenette (reassignment to AHL Belleville)
F Hayden Hodgson (reassignment to AHL Belleville)
D Nikolas Matinpalo (reassignment to AHL Belleville)
F Garrett Pilon (reassignment to AHL Belleville)
F Jamieson Rees (reassignment to AHL Belleville)
F Cole Reinhardt (reassignment to AHL Belleville)
Philadelphia Flyers (confirmed in team announcement)
D Ronald Attard (reassignment to AHL Lehigh Valley)
D Louis Belpedio (reassignment to AHL Lehigh Valley)
F Rhett Gardner (reassignment to AHL Lehigh Valley)
Seattle Kraken (confirmed in team announcement)
D Nikolas Brouillard (reassignment to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Luke Henman (reassignment to AHL Coachella Valley)
at CDT | by Josh Erickson 1 Comment
9/27: The Canucks announced that both Brisebois and Woo cleared waivers and they will be assigned to AHL Abbotsford.
9/26: The Canucks placed defensemen Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo on waivers Thursday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. They’re the first training camp cuts from across the league this season who are not waiver-exempt.
Teams now have 24 hours to place claims for either player. If none are placed, both players can be assigned to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks on Friday. Waiver priority is still decided by the reverse order of last season’s standings until Nov. 1.
Brisebois, 27, is entering his eighth professional season. All of them have come with the Canucks organization. A third-round pick in 2015, Brisebois was limited to just eight games last season with an upper-body injury that delayed his season debut until March. He posted zeros across the board in eight games with Abbotsford after clearing waivers.
The Quebec native has made 27 NHL appearances, a career-high 17 of which came in the 2022-23 campaign. He’s scored once and added two assists, posting a -7 rating and 38 blocks while averaging 14:15 per game.
A serviceable stay-at-home defender at the AHL level with good skating ability, Brisebois will almost certainly clear waivers and look to re-establish himself as a regular in Abbotsford. He’s made 249 career AHL appearances for Vancouver’s affiliates in Abbotsford and Utica, posting 60 points and a +31 rating. He’s in the second season of a two-year, $1.55MM extension he signed in 2023 that carries a one-way salary structure this year, so he’ll be well-compensated with a $775K salary even if he spends the entire year in the minors.
Woo, 24, lands on pre-season waivers for the second year in a row. The 2018 second-round pick was recalled on a few occasions last season for injury insurance but didn’t manage to get into a game. He’s still yet to make his NHL debut, playing all four of his professional seasons thus far entirely for Abbotsford or Utica. He’s logged 19 goals, 46 assists, 65 points, and a +18 rating in 200 games on the farm. He is coming off a career-high 31 points in 2023-24, so he may be a name to watch for a mid-season recall if injuries strike in Vancouver.
at CDT | by Gabriel Foley 12 Comments
Former Carolina Hurricanes forward Evgeny Kuznetsov is still deciding his next step after passing through waivers and becoming a free agent. His agent, Shumi Babayev, shared with Olsya Usova of Russia’s RB Sport that Kuznetsov hasn’t ruled out a new NHL contract. Babayev shared that 15 NHL clubs were still showing interest, adding, “[Kuznetsov] just wants to play hockey and be trusted. He still has the ability to play for many years to come. Kuznetsov is in good physical shape… If there was interest in those teams that count on him and let him show his best qualities, he would also consider them.
Kuznetsov’s storied career with the Washington Capitals came to a stall this season, leading to a Trade Deadline move to the Carolina Hurricanes. But that didn’t seem to inspire much, with Kuznetsov managing just 13 points across 30 games with Carolina, combining the regular season and playoffs. A request for another change of scenery has led Kuznetsov to free agency, and while he is reportedly hearing out NHL offers, previous reports have him set on a move to the KHL. Kuznetsov would be returning to an established career at Russia’s top-flight, having already appeared in 210 games and scored 124 points with Chelyabinsk Traktor between 2009 and 2014.
His illustrious KHL scoring led directly to top-end production with the Capitals. Kuznetsov is a veteran of four 70-point seasons, carving out a strong role as the gut punch behind Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin’s one-two. That trio reached a peak in the 2017-18 season, carrying Washington to its first Stanley Cup in tandem with Braden Holtby’s shutdown goaltending. It was a career-year in every respect for Kuznetsov, who finished with 27 goals and 83 points in 79 games. He’s flirted with that production a few more times since the Cup win, including notching 72 points in 2019 and 78 in 2022. But he’s struggled to achieve the consistency he had at his peak – proving to be a major flaw as his other intangibles have started to decline.
But Kuznetsov is proving persistent, with his agent urging that the forward believes he has more to give. He’s still 32 years old and carries the invaluable experience of 743 career regular season games – and 97 playoff games. Babayev shared that Kuznetsov’s team will hear out pitches, but a KHL move still feels like the right next step. He reasoned, “Most likely, he is moving towards playing in the KHL. The man wants to play hockey and have fun, be useful and win. There are many factors here.”
It’s rare to see such a top producer on the open market so late into July. What’s more, Kuznetsov isn’t likely to command much cap after a contract termination in Carolina. But it seems NHL teams will need to have a pitch that really wows if they want to reel in the former point-per-game scorer.
at CDT | by Brennan McClain 30 Comments
July 18: Kuznetsov has cleared unconditional waivers and has had his contract terminated, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He’s now a UFA.
July 17: After multiple conflicting reports over the last several days, it appears Evgeny Kuznetsov’s time in the NHL is coming to an end for the foreseeable future. According to a team announcement, the Carolina Hurricanes have placed Kuznetsov on unconditional waivers for contract termination. Assuming that Kuznetsov clears waivers, it is expected he will return to Russia to play in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Although his landing spot in the KHL has not been announced, it is more than likely that Kuznetsov will end up with SKA St. Petersburg on a multi-year agreement according to prior reporting yesterday. SKA St. Petersburg is the current home of former NHL players Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Leipsic, and Valentin Zykov while also being the home of the recent fifth overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, Ivan Demidov.
According to PuckPedia, Kuznetsov will walk away from $6MM by mutually terminating his contract while his separate $3.9MM cap hits with the Hurricanes and Washington Capitals will be lifted from both team’s salary cap structures. Kuznetsov was due a $2MM signing bonus on July 1st as part of his contract which has already been paid out.
Kuznetsov was the 26th overall selection of the Capitals in the 2010 NHL Draft and he made his debut a few years later in the 2013-14 NHL season. He got off to a relatively slow start during his freshman and sophomore campaigns in the NHL but became one of the game’s top centers only a year later. Kuznetsov scored 20 goals and 77 points in 82 games for Washington in the 2013-14 regular season while finishing 19th in Hart Trophy voting.
He became a steady playmaker for the Capitals during the organization’s most successful run in their history. The Russian forward scored 119 goals and 373 points over 420 games in Washington from 2016-2022 while leading the playoffs in assists (20) and points (32) during the team’s run to a Stanley Cup championship in 2018. Unfortunately, due to numerous off-ice issues and a stint in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program, it became apparent that Kuznetsov had a lack of desire to continue playing in Washington as his on-ice production suffered.
The Capitals moved on from Kuznetsov this past trade deadline by dealing him to the Hurricanes for a draft pick and retaining 50% of his salary. Kuznetsov notched two goals and seven points in 20 regular season games for Carolina while collecting another four goals and six points in 10 postseason contests.
At 32 years old, Kuznetsov theoretically could return to the NHL in the future but that does not appear as the route he will take. He will more than likely finish his NHL career with 173 goals and 575 points in 743 games with another 33 goals and 73 points in 97 postseason contests, including a Stanley Cup ring.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was the first to report the Hurricanes would place Kuznetsov on unconditional waivers.
at CDT | by Gabriel Foley Leave a Comment
Sunday: Knyzhov has cleared waivers, PuckPedia reports. However, he isn’t being bought out; instead, it’s a mutual termination, meaning that San Jose will have no lingering cap hit.
Saturday: The San Jose Sharks have placed defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a buyout, per Chris Johnston with The Athletic (Twitter link).
Knyzhov has spent parts of the last five seasons with the Sharks roster, joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2019. He showed up strong with the San Jose Barracuda, recording just five points in 33 games but looking well-matched when defending the rush on North American ice. The strong adjustment earned Knyzhov a full-time role with the Sharks in 2020-21. He totaled 10 points and 39 penalty minutes in 56 games as a rookie – posting career-highs across the boards. But injuries derailed Knyzhov’s sophomore year, holding him out for all of the 2021-22 season and most of the 2022-23 season. This year was his first of good health since 2021, and he seemed to make a triumphant return, recording a career-high 14 points in 40 AHL games, though he struggled significantly in 10 NHL games.
But there’s upside to be had with Knyzhov, who will now enter the open market with 81 career games, and 12 career points, under his belt. He’ll offer a cheap defensive-defenseman style, so long as he opts to stay in North America, rather than returning to SKA St. Petersburg in Russia. Knyzhov previously spent three years in SKA’s system, after brief stints with the WHL’s Regina Pats and the NAHL’s Springfield Jr. Blues in the 2015-16 season.
at CDT | by Gabriel Foley 9 Comments
The Columbus Blue Jackets are expected to place young defender Adam Boqvist on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a buyout later today, shares Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Blue Jackets would only be on the hook for one-third of his contract value should he clear unconditional waivers, as he’s being bought out before the age of 26. That would burden Columbus with a $533K cap hit through the next two seasons, a full $2.7MM in savings from the $3.2MM salary that Boqvist was due next year, though also strapping them with empty cap in 2025-26.
Boqvist is a surprising name to a list of pre-July 1st buyouts that also features Jack Campbell and Nate Schmidt. Unlike those two, Boqvist is closer to the beginning of his career than the end of it, though he’s been no stranger to struggles. Boqvist has been in and out of Columbus’ lineups for much of the last three seasons since they acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks alongside the picks used for David Jiricek, Cole Sillinger, and Aleksi Heimosalmi. In return, Columbus gave up defender Seth Jones and the picks used on Nolan Allan and Dominic Jones.
Boqvist joined the Blue Jackets with 76 NHL games, and 29 points, under his belt. But despite moving to a Columbus team that was, at the time, less competitive than Chicago – Boqvist wasn’t able to work his way up the depth chart. He instead spent much of his first year on the team’s third pairing, posting 22 points, split evenly, in 55 games. That was enough offense to earn him a slight boost in power-play time last season, with Boqvist vindicating the boost with a career-high 24 points in 46 games.
But Boqvist hasn’t been able to avoid the injury bug in any of his five NHL seasons. That came to a point this season, when an upper-body injury ended Boqvist’s season in mid-March, after routinely holding him out of the lineup since December. He was held to just 35 games on the year, tied for the fewest games he’s played in one season, and Boqvist posted a career-low 10 points as a result. Despite clear skill in carrying and managing the puck, a lack of assuredness in making plays and air-headed defense has kept Boqvist from taking off. He was previously due a $2.6MM cap hit this season – a number that could be palatable for teams looking for a spark on waivers. Should he make it to the open market, the young Boqvist will surely have no shortage of suitors.
at CDT | by Josh Erickson 25 Comments
The Sharks have claimed forward Barclay Goodrow off waivers from the Rangers, reports Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic. The New York Post’s Mollie Walker reported after the Rangers waived him yesterday that San Jose was likely to snag him off the wire.
Goodrow, 31, officially returns to where his NHL career began as an undrafted free agent signing in 2014. He developed into a solid checking center/winger over the course of the next six years in the Bay Area, eventually landing with the Lightning via trade in 2020 and playing an important third-line role in their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
The Toronto native parlayed that into a six-year, $21.85MM deal with New York in 2021, one that hasn’t aged particularly well. Costing $3.642MM against the cap, he had just four goals and 12 points in 80 games in the regular season in 2023-24.
While Goodrow repaired his value in the postseason, tallying six goals in 16 games in the Rangers’ run to the Eastern Conference Final, his cap hit had become affordable for a team in the peak of its contention window looking to make significant additions this summer. He’s never been able to match the two-way impact he had with the Lightning in New York, but he did at least contribute a respectable 30-plus points in each of his first two seasons in the Big Apple.
A major reason for his offensive decline this season was his deployment under head coach Peter Laviolette, who decreased his offensive zone start share at even strength from about 42% through two seasons to a paltry 23.5% in 2023-24, rarely getting him opportunities to contribute on the scoresheet. The Rangers forward with the second-most sparse offensive deployment, Jimmy Vesey, had 30.9% of his in-zone starts at even strength come in the offensive end.
The Sharks, who mustered just 181 goals last season compared to the Rangers’ 282, will rely on Goodrow offensively much more than that. Even if putting up points isn’t his main purpose as a versatile forward deployed in checking situations, it’s feasible that he’ll average north of 15 minutes per game and hover around the career-high 13 goals and 33 points he had with the Rangers in 2021-22.
Today’s claim also has considerable financial benefits for both teams. Most importantly, it leaves the Rangers off the hook for the remainder of Goodrow’s deal, which carried the aforementioned $3.6MM cap hit through 2027. For general manager Chris Drury, it’s a much cleaner and more preferable departure than buying him out, resulting in lasting cap ramifications for the next six years, or giving up assets to trade him away while retaining salary. It’s the closest thing to straight-up releasing a player the NHL has to offer without terminating a contract.
Meanwhile, the Sharks sat over $13MM below next season’s $65MM cap floor before claiming Goodrow. They now have under $10MM worth of cap hits to add to their books next season, a much more attainable figure for a team expected to be only mildly aggressive in free agency as they continue to rebuild.
In 268 games during his previous stint with the Sharks, Goodrow scored 26 goals and 71 points. It’s worth noting that Goodrow had a 15-team no-trade list in his contract but not a no-move clause – meaning he could have blocked a deal to San Jose if they’d been on his list. Instead, because he’s changing hands via waivers, he has no ability to nix the move.
at CDT | by Josh Erickson 16 Comments
7:00 PM: Barclay Goodrow may not have to spend very long on waivers, with Mollie Walker of the New York Post reporting that the San Jose Sharks – who carry top priority in waiver claims after finishing last in the league – could have an agreement in place to claim the Rangers winger. Goodrow spent the first six years of his NHL career with the Sharks, joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2014. The 31-year-old veteran could provide great leadership to a now much younger San Jose lineup, as the team looks to return to their days of routine playoff berths.
1:00 PM: The Rangers have placed forward Barclay Goodrow on waivers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
The move likely marks the beginning of the end for Goodrow’s time in New York, whether via a waiver claim over the next 24 hours or via buyout or trade. He has three seasons remaining at a $3.642MM cap hit with a 15-team no-trade list.
Goodrow, now 31, gave himself quite a reputation around the league with some clutch playoff performances for the Sharks and Lightning around the turn of the decade. After scoring the overtime winner for San Jose against the Golden Knights in Game 7 of their first-round win, a game they trailed 3-0 in the third period, he went on to play a key depth role in Tampa’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021.
That earned him his current deal – a six-year, $21.85MM pact signed with the Rangers after they acquired his signing rights from the Bolts shortly before free agency opened in 2021. At first, it seemed to pay off. His first season in the Big Apple saw him do well in a checking role, posting 13 goals, 33 points and a +13 rating in 79 games while averaging nearly 17 minutes per night. Behind the scenes, though, there were red flags. His strong possession numbers with Tampa had cratered in New York, and the Blueshirts only controlled 44.3% of shot attempts with Goodrow on the ice at even strength in his first year.
It’s been downhill from there. Goodrow’s ice time and point production have consistently slipped over the past two years, and his already underwhelming possession metrics have gotten worse. He was arguably the worst two-way player in the league this season, managing to control just 39.1% of shot attempts when on the ice at even strength. For context, the Rangers overall controlled 53.2% of shot attempts without Goodrow on the ice at even strength.
His box stats this season were unimpressive as well. He played in 80 games but mustered only four goals and 12 points while slipping to a fourth-line center role for most of the campaign. Of course, he showed up when it matters most yet again, exploding for six goals and two assists in 16 playoff games. While a good story, he shot at 40%, and his possession metrics were even worse than in the regular season. That level of offense was never going to be sustainable.
All 31 other teams can now have Goodrow for free, but with three years left on a deal that was a vast overpayment this season, it’s highly unlikely he’ll be claimed. The waiver process should allow Rangers general manager Chris Drury to gauge interest in his services in an attempt to work out a cap-clearing trade, though. Even if that doesn’t work, buying out the remainder of his contract is an option. Doing so would result in a cap credit of $247K this season before a $1.003MM penalty in 2025-26, a $3.503MM penalty in 2026-27, and a $1.111MM penalty from 2027-28 to 2029-30, per CapFriendly. It would save the Rangers an average of just $556K per season over the next six years.
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