Dallas Stars Claim Sami Vatanen
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Buffalo Sabres Claim Drake Caggiula
According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, the Buffalo Sabres have claimed Drake Caggiula off waivers, seeing the obvious value in an experienced forward that makes the league minimum.
Caggiula, 26, scored 41 goals and 76 points through the first 222 games of his career, playing an energy role in the bottom-six for Edmonton and Chicago. Unfortunately, that production didn’t follow him to Arizona, where he had just one goal and seven points in 27 games this season.
Though he could never really find a fit in the desert, Caggiula comes to a Buffalo team that is desperate for some work ethic and fresh energy. Not only will he likely receive more responsibility and ice time, but this will be a great way for Caggiula to audition for his next contract. He settled for a one-year deal at the league minimum of $700K in late December and hasn’t had a great showing so far. A good few weeks with the struggling Sabres could change all that and send him to unrestricted free agency with something to build on.
There is also potentially a chance that Buffalo flips him by the deadline, especially if they know that another team was going to claim him. Being in last place, the Sabres would have had waiver priority over every other team in the league, meaning Caggiula never even had a chance to go anywhere else.
Drake Caggiula Placed On Waivers
The Arizona Coyotes have placed Drake Caggiula on waivers according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet. He has played just once since March 27, receiving fewer than 10 minutes of ice time in Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.
It wasn’t so long ago that Caggiula was proving to be a capable bottom-six scoring threat, able to manufacture even-strength offense in limited minutes. Over the first four seasons of his career, he recorded 41 goals in 222 games, an 82-game pace of 15 despite averaging just 13 minutes of ice time a night. For a player that was seemingly never outworked and played with a physical edge, those numbers were more than good enough.
Unfortunately this season that offense has dried up completely, with Caggiula scoring just a single goal in 27 games for the Coyotes. His possession numbers have fallen off a cliff in the desert and despite still managing 49 hits on the year, hasn’t been the energy machine he had in years past.
Still, with an expiring $700K contract, perhaps someone feels that Caggiula can be a valuable depth add just ahead of the deadline. He does have 249 games of NHL experience, not something often found so cheaply on the waiver wire.
Three Players Clear Waivers
April 8: All three players have cleared waivers and can be assigned to the taxi squad or minor leagues.
April 7: Three players have been placed on waivers today, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Richard Panik of the Washington Capitals, Nick Merkley of the New Jersey Devils, and Martin Frk of the Los Angeles Kings all find themselves available to the rest of the league.
Panik was scratched again last night for the Capitals, the third time he had been out of the lineup in the last five games. That is what happens when you are brought in for secondary scoring and record just three goals and nine points in 36 games. Panik hasn’t been close to effective enough in his role this season, failing to record a point in his last eight and only generating five shots on goal during that stretch. Remember that the 30-year-old forward is on a four-year contract he signed with the Capitals in 2019 and carries a $2.75MM cap hit. $1.075MM of that can be buried by putting him on the taxi squad, giving the Capitals a little more cap flexibility as the deadline approaches.
Merkley is in a nearly opposite situation in New Jersey, where he is still just trying to establish himself at the NHL level. The 23-year-old actually has six points in 13 games this season but doesn’t have a consistent enough effort at the defensive end of the rink. A first-round pick in 2015, there is obvious offensive skill locked away in Merkley, but it’s hard to rely on him in a top-six role at this point in his career. The bottom-six isn’t a great fit for the 5’10” forward, meaning he’s stuck in a difficult situation. Just like New Jersey did when they included him in last year’s Taylor Hall deal, perhaps another team believes they can unlock the next level for Merkley and grabs him off waivers. Given he cleared in January though, that seems unlikely.
If Panik is an overpaid veteran and Merkley is a young player trying to find his way, Frk falls somewhere in the middle. The 27-year-old has been given countless opportunities to really establish himself at the NHL level and despite being an elite minor league contributor, can’t seem to keep his head above water when he moves up. Armed with an incredibly hard shot, Frk scores goals on a consistent basis in the minor leagues but has just 18 in 118 NHL contests. He’s played just one game for the Kings this season after spending most of it on injured reserve, and is likely headed for the taxi squad if he clears.