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Max McCormick Clears Waivers

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Saturday: As expected given the lack of upside to making a claim, McCormick has safely cleared waivers, reports Hurricanes beat writer Michael Smith. The Central Division leaders will get some cap relief in the final days of the regular season while retaining the depth forward for their playoff run.

Friday: You don’t often see players placed on waivers after the trade deadline, as roster limits are lifted and teams can carry everyone they need. In today’s cap world though, there are sometimes situations that require a team to move a player down even after the deadline has passed. That’s what has happened with the Carolina Hurricanes today, who have placed Max McCormick on waivers to create some roster flexibility.

As CapFriendly points out, the rules for waiver claims after the deadline are slightly adjusted, meaning McCormick could not play for a team that claims him. If someone did claim him, it would essentially end his season, which doesn’t benefit his new team very much. Still, there is at least a slight possibility that a team would claim McCormick simply to remove him as an option for the Hurricanes as they head into the postseason. An unrestricted free agent at season’s end, there would be no real risk other than upsetting a fellow management team.

It’s a tough spot for McCormick, 29, who has played in ten games this season for Carolina. The former Ottawa Senators forward has two goals in those appearances, spending more time on the taxi squad than on any active roster.

Montreal Canadiens To Acquire Erik Gustafsson

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The Montreal Canadiens lost Victor Mete on waivers today, but they’re bringing in some more defensive depth. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Canadiens have acquired Erik Gustafsson from the Philadelphia Flyers. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that the Canadiens will send a 2022 seventh-round pick, while the Flyers are retaining 50% of Gustafsson’s remaining cap hit.

It might seem amazing that a defenseman who scored 17 goals and 60 points in the 2018-19 season could be grabbed for a seventh-round pick, but that’s just how poorly Gustafsson’s defense is regarded around the league. There’s no doubt he can be an offensive catalyst, but he has played his way out of the lineup for three different teams now with his inconsistent ability in his own end.

Luckily, the Canadiens won’t be asking Gustafsson to be playing heavy minutes given how the depth chart looks right now. Instead, he’ll come in along with the recently acquired Jon Merrill to give the bottom-pair rotation a different look or fill in for any injuries.

Senators Claim Victor Mete Off Waivers

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The Senators have added some extra depth to their back end off the waiver wire as Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports (Twitter link) that Ottawa has claimed Victor Mete off waivers from Montreal.  This move comes off the heels of them trading Mike Reilly and Braydon Coburn late last night.

Mete has played a very limited role with the Canadiens this season, suiting up in just 14 games this season, picking up three assists while averaging a career-low 14:09 per game.  It’s a sharp contrast from the beginning of his career when he spent considerable time on the top pairing with Shea Weber but he was surpassed on the depth chart by Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson, and Alexander Romanov as they were brought in over the last two years.  That resulted in an early-season trade request, one that was clearly not fulfilled and evidently Montreal couldn’t find a taker before waiving the 22-year-old yesterday.

With the limited role he had in the bubble, Mete opted to accept his $735K qualifying offer, making him a low-cost acquisition for Ottawa down the stretch.  However, he is eligible for salary arbitration this summer and with nearly 200 career NHL games under his belt, he will have a good case for a somewhat notable raise if it was to get to a hearing despite how things have gone this season.

But that’s an issue for the summer.  In the meantime, the Senators will get a free opportunity to take a closer look at Mete to see if he can be a part of their future plans.  As for Montreal, they basically brought in his replacement yesterday with the acquisition of Jon Merrill from Detroit so this news won’t affect any of their other plans before today’s trade deadline.

Dallas Stars Claim Sami Vatanen

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While speculation continues to swirl around some of the Dallas Stars defenders, they’ve added a new one. The Stars have claimed Sami Vatanen off waivers from the New Jersey Devils according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.

The claim of Vatanen certainly won’t quiet any talk of a Jamie Oleksiak trade, given the Stars now have eight defensemen on the NHL roster. That includes Andrej Sekera however, who suffered an injury last night and could be out for some time depending on testing today.

Dallas is now on the hook for the remainder of Vatanen’s $2MM salary through the end of the season. Whether he can provide much value for that salary isn’t clear after a poor start to the year in New Jersey. Once a reliable two-way option, Vatanen had just six points in 30 games for the Devils and was playing the fewest minutes of his career.

Remember that even though the Stars could be moving some rentals, the Stars aren’t completely out of the playoff race and can use a player like Vatanen to strengthen their back end.

Four Other Players Placed On Waivers Sunday

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April 12: Mete and Vatanen were both claimed, but the other four players all cleared waivers. They can now be assigned to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

April 11: While Victor Mete and Sami Vatanen headline the waiver wire Sunday, the last day to put players on the waiver wire before the trade deadline, four other players were also waived, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Among those are Detroit Red Wings defensemen Danny DeKeyser and Alex Biega as well as Nashville’s Josh Healey and Ottawa’s Cody Goloubef.

For DeKeyser and Biega, this is the standard waivers practice as both players have seen the waiver wire earlier this year. While playoff teams may be interested in a veteran like DeKeyser, there is no chance that a team would take a chance on the 31-year-old considering he has a $5MM AAV this year as well as next year. No team will be willing to take on the injury-prone defenseman for a second year. DeKeyser, however, has been healthy this season, playing in 31 games for Detroit with two goals and six points. Biega, on the other hand, has just appeared in four games for the Red Wings this season, but has served mainly as a taxi squad player and emergency replacement player. The 33-year-old has one assist this season.

As for the other two — Healey and Goloubef — both must be placed through waivers after each signed an NHL contract earlier in the day. Healey signed a one-year deal with the Predators, while Goloubef signed an NHL deal with the Ottawa Senators.

New Jersey Devils Place Sami Vatanen On Waivers

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The New Jersey Devils placed Sami Vatanen on waivers Sunday, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, a move that the team hopes could be useful just before the trade deadline.

Vatanen is a name that has been brought up as a trade chip for the selling Devils and while New Jersey has struggled this year, Vatanen has been solid. The 29-year-old has two goals and five points in 29 games and has a plus/minus of +1 this season, something hard to do with a losing team. Another positive is that Vatanen has remained healthy all season, something he hasn’t been successful at doing the last few years.

The veteran defenseman carries a cap hit of $2MM this season, an amount that actually isn’t that easy to fit in for many teams around the league. The Devils may have a better chance in trading him should he clear though, given the acquiring team could then place him on their taxi squad, burying $1.075MM of the deal until they make room. On top of that, the Devils can offer to retain half of his salary, making his contract easy to swallow. Teams also wouldn’t have to worry about his salary for next year as he will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

Montreal Canadiens Place Victor Mete On Waivers

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The Montreal Canadiens have placed defenseman Victor Mete on waivers, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. With it being the last day to place players on waivers before the trade deadline, it could ignite suggestions that the team is ready to let the youngster go.  The 22-year-old defenseman has been involved in trade rumors most of the season.

While many interesting players have hit the wire and not claimed this season, it would seem hard to imagine that Mete will clear waivers considering he is making just $735K, is so young, can be controlled for three more seasons and has 185 NHL games under his belt. He is a perfect candidate to be claimed by weaker teams, looking to add a solid defensive defenseman as well as playoff teams looking to add cheap blueline help. One positive stat from Mete is his plus/minus which is a plus-30 throughout his career.

While offense has never been Mete’s strength and he actually did struggle scoring a goal for much of the early part of his career, Mete did score four goals and 11 points last season in 51 appearances, but has fallen out of favor this year in Montreal, only appearing in 14 games. While the general belief was that the Canadiens would trade the blueliner, the team would now have to hope that no team claims him, making him more valuable as a taxi squad player. However, there could be a number of teams willing to keep him on their roster for the rest of the year.

Penguins’ Colton Sceviour And Juuso Riikola Clear Waivers

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Sunday: Both Sceviour and Riikola have cleared, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Saturday: The Penguins are trying to give themselves a bit of roster flexibility heading into Monday’s trade deadline as Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports (Twitter link) that forward Colton Sceviour and defenseman Juuso Riikola have been placed on waivers.

Sceviour was acquired from Florida back in September as part of the Mike Matheson-Patric Hornqvist deal but while he had been a capable secondary scorer during his time with the Panthers and Stars, that hasn’t materialized with the Pens.  Instead, the 31-year-old has just three goals and three assists in 31 games this season while averaging a career-low 9:30 per night of playing time.  This led to him clearing waivers back in early March and he has played in 14 games since then, requiring him to pass through waivers before he can be loaned back to the taxi squad.  Sceviour is in the final year of his contract which carries a $1.2MM AAV, meaning all but $125K can be buried on the taxi squad.  He’s set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

As for Riikola, the defenseman has had a limited role with Pittsburgh since signing with them back in 2018.  While he played in at least 36 NHL games in each of his first two seasons in North America, he has been limited to just two this season.  Part of that is due to an upper-body injury that cost him 22 games but as a result of the moves the Penguins made to add defensive depth when they were hit hard with injuries, he has yet to play since being cleared to return.  The 27-year-old has another year left on his deal after this one with a $1.15MM AAV and if a team is willing to absorb a low seven-figure cost next season to add some free defensive depth, there’s a chance he could be claimed.  If not, all but $75K of his cap hit can be wiped out by a taxi squad assignment.

Several Players Clear Waivers

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Saturday: All four players passed through waivers unclaimed, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston.

Friday: The Ottawa Senators have placed Clark Bishop on waivers in order to be able to place him on the taxi squad once again. He’s not the only one on the wire, as the Edmonton Oilers have placed veteran forward Kyle Turris and the Montreal Canadiens have placed Paul Byron on waivers. The New York Islanders have also signed Kenneth Appleby to an NHL contract, meaning he has to clear waivers to remain in the AHL.

For Bishop and the Senators, this is a simple move to regain the roster flexibility they have had for most of the season. After clearing waivers before the season began, Bishop was able to move freely between the active roster and taxi squad depending on need, saving the Senators some cash on off days. His exempt status expired earlier this month, meaning he needed to clear again to be assigned to the taxi squad. With just three points in 12 games, Bishop is likely to clear again.

Byron too should be used to this by now, given he has cleared waivers twice this season and is part of a near-daily rotation through the taxi squad. The 31-year-old forward was once an important part of the Canadiens attack but is limited to mostly fourth-line duties these days. Given his contract carries a $3.4MM cap hit through the end of the 2022-23 season, he will clear again.

Turris hasn’t cleared this season, but it won’t be a surprise if he does. The 31-year-old forward is a shadow of the player that once scored 64 points for the Ottawa Senators and is overpaid even at $1.65MM this season. Turris signed a two-year deal with the Oilers in the offseason that the team is probably already regretting after he registered just five points in his first 25 games this season. Moving his deal to the taxi squad could bury $1.075MM of it, giving the Oilers some added flexibility.

Appleby, the biggest unknown of the bunch, is a 25-year-old minor league goaltender that would need an NHL deal in order to serve as the taxi squad netminder. In two appearances with Bridgeport this season he has an .896 save percentage and there is no suggestion that he’ll ever see time in the Islanders net.  CapFriendly reports that Appleby receives a two-year contract, making him eligible to be exposed to Seattle in the upcoming expansion draft.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Nikita Gusev Clears Unconditional Waivers

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Saturday: As expected, Gusev has cleared waivers, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, paving the way for his deal to be terminated.

Friday: The New Jersey Devils have placed Nikita Gusev on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract termination, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Notably, having his contract terminated tomorrow would give him time to sign a new deal (likely at a much lower salary) with another NHL team and be eligible for the playoffs. When the termination goes through, he will be an unrestricted free agent.

This may come as a surprise, given Gusev is forfeiting the $1MM remaining on his contract, but things had taken a terrible turn in New Jersey. The 28-year-old winger hasn’t played in a game for the Devils since March 20 and has just five points on the season. Made a healthy scratch many times by head coach Lindy Ruff, the two sides were heading to an obvious breakup in the offseason.

This move will expedite that estrangement but also gives Gusev a chance to land on his feet in a better situation. We saw almost the exact same scenario play out last season when Zach Bogosian terminated his contract with the Buffalo Sabres, only to sign a new deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning and win a Stanley Cup. While that is certainly a best-case scenario and not at all guaranteed in Gusev’s case, he could now sign a league-minimum deal with a contender to add some depth for a postseason run, while showcasing himself ahead of free agency.

After a long career in the KHL, Gusev finally came to North America at the end of the 2018-19 season, signing his entry-level deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. He never actually suited up for Vegas though, as an offseason trade took him to New Jersey with a new two-year, $9MM deal. As a rookie that looked like a steal; Gusev recorded 44 points in 66 games, finishing just one point behind team leader Kyle Palmieri. It hasn’t continued and now a $4.5MM average annual value looks like an impossibility on his next deal.

Still, for those teams looking at adding forwards before Monday, Gusev now becomes one of the most low-risk options available.

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