A list of notable players on the NHL waiver wire, plus a roundup of players to watch in this season’s rumor mill.
Busy waiver wire.
Andrew MacDonald was among those placed on waivers yesterday.
KUKLA’S KORNER: provided a list of players who went on waivers yesterday as NHL teams made their final roster cuts before the start of the season. Among the notables were Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald, Calgary Flames forwards Mason Raymond and Paul Byron, Boston Bruins forward Max Talbot and Montreal Canadiens goaltender Dustin Tokarski.
SPORTSNET: Chris Johnston reports the salary cap is largely to blame for salaried NHL players (like some of those noted above) being placed on waivers for the purpose of demotion, even though their respective teams will only receive limited salary cap relief. Several days ago, the Edmonton Oilers did the same with Nikita Nikitin and Ben Scrivens.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s possible those players could be recalled by their respective clubs later in the season. As there’s no such thing as re-entry waivers anymore, a player like MacDonald carrying a hefty cap hit won’t be attractive to a rival team. Some of these players could become trade bait, though their current teams could end up offering to pick up part of their salaries to improve their trade value.
Players to watch in this season’s rumor mill.
OTTAWA SUN: Bruce Garrioch lists several players who could be worth watching throughout this season. Among those “drawing interest” are potential UFAs like Winnipeg’s Dustin Byfuglien, Carolina’s Eric Staal and Cam Ward, Edmonton’s Teddy Purcell and Ottawa’s Chris Neil. Those to “keep an eye on” include Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar, NY Rangers’ Dan Boyle, Vancouver’s Dan Hamhuis and Winnipeg’s Andrew Ladd.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Other than Purcell and Neil, all the aforementioned have frequently appeared in trade speculation throughout the offseason. I’m sure we’ll hear a lot more about them over the course of this season.
As long as the Sens remain in contention – and there’s no reason to suspect they won’t – Neil won’t be going anywhere as they’ll need his presence over the course of a grueling 82-game schedule. But if they stumble and are seemingly out of the picture come trade-deadline day, he might be attractive to some team seeking to add some “truculence” down the stretch (hello Brian Burke in Calgary). LOL
You’re probably right but if Ottawa decides they need room for both Peumple and Prince I can see them moving out a veteran. Murray is loyal to players like Neil yet I am of the opinion he’d be attractive to many teams. Could be tempting to move him regardless where they stand in the standings.
Teams still need his type for the early grind anyway – Oct to mid-Dec. And I wouldn’t count on MacArthur being back any time soon so there’s room at the start for both Prince and Puempel.
Slow day; so here is my playoff team predictions and the story lines that im interested in watching. That nobody cares about.
East- TB, Mont, Bos, Wash, NYR, NYI, Pitts and Columbus
West- Stl, Nash, Chi, Ana, LA, Cal, Min and Dal
Story lines- Mcdavid, Eichel, Kessel and how Dougie Hamilton handles the tough west. Will Evander Kane score 30 plus in Buff.
Boston in the playoffs, What have they done to get better this year after not making the playoffs last year. Hamilton, Lucic, Boychuk are gone Seidenberg and Chara are out for awhile. Boston will be lucky to even get close to a playoff team there is no way Boston makes the playoff they will at best be a playoff bubble team. Wildcard 1 or Wildcard 2 at best Offensively they should be fine and thier goaltending well your talking about Rask but Defensively they’re screwed. I just don’t see Boston making it but I agree with the rest of your assessment here.
I can’t wait for next April when the B’s are in the Playoffs and the pretenders like Ottawa and the hamburger who will be in the Echl soon enough will be watching them
Bruins will have a problem making playoffs, D not as good as last year and they were bad….right now T Krug is the #1 D-Man, the forwards they brought in there’s a hope they can score 20 goals…
Can’t disagree to much. I have Boston out of the playoffs though. Yet a healthy Krejci would go along way to help them get in. Pastrnak could be a boost as well. Yet their backend is weakening and Chara is currently hurt and questionable for the start of the season.
I am reasonably confident my Sens will make it in. Yet Detroit has some young guns moving up like Larkin and Green on the back end. I wonder if they can continue their playoff streak. Florida is another team I am worried will bump my team. Huberdeau and Barkov seem poised to step up in that top line roll. Bjugstad (sorry for spelling) as a 2nd centre shows promise. Heck it may flop and he could be 1rst line centre and Barkov 2nd. Pirri if he can do more than score would help them a lot.
So many uncertainties in that atlantic. But I agree it is likely the two wild card spots will got to the metropolitan and Clbs looks better than a wild card but are they better than the 4 you listed above them. That looks to be a tough tough division.
I have no issues with the western picks. Although it would not surprise me if any of Cal, La, Min and Dal don’t make it.
montreal and tampa are the only teams for sure in in the atlantic I see buffalo Detroit and maybe Ottawa battling for the final playoff spot. if buffalo’s team lives up to their potential and lehner stops .903-.910 they could b scary
I ment a .913-.920 save percentage, lol my fat fingers hit the wrong buttons on the number pad
boston is getting rid of the problem players in the dressing room, it sucks that most of the fan favs are idiots in the dressing room but you gotta do what you gotta do to survive in the long run, if those players were not taken out of the dressing room you might have a group of money hungry guys showing younger promising tallent that it doesnt matter what the city thinks about you, its how much they will pay you to do nothing besides be a glorified 2nd or 3rd line depth player gm in bos has a lot of work but if not this year theres always next year, gonna have alot of good tallented guys to watch might be a surprise
How swiftly the story is twisted to suit ones favour. Hamilton and Lucic are “money hungry guys showing younger promising talent that it doesn’t matter what the city thinks of you”. Interesting twist.
Boston PR at its finest. Did the same , tried to smear Seguin.
Boston PR at its finest. They did it with Seguin. All players shipped out have issues according to the PR machine.
I wonder why tokarski wasn’t picked up??
I was waiting for the smart remark from you.
Clearly you have no life when you need to post and gloat on every thing i say.( just because he’d be a nice pick up doesnt mean he will be picked up )
Well its okay I understand and I will give other readers a look into the future at BBs house.
Little Bear ” Grampa tell me again the time you posted soemething right on line”
BigBear ” 20 years ago I had a 50/50 chance of predicting the Leafs would hold salary on trading a player named Kessell ”
Little Bear ” Is that what that framed piece of paper on the wall is ? I see you looking at it every day.”
BigBear ” yes its the highlight of my life little one. ”
Little Bear ‘so you reminded people every day after that how smart you were ? Wow you’re my hero grandpa ”
You’re a sad pathetic soul who needs to change or end up like grandpa.
lmao! don’t worry the list will go on and on as long as you keep posting stupid hockey comments lol
But no mention how he didn’t know how holding salary worked or that he thought they would hold 50% (4 million dollars)….big bear being right at its finest…
lol not once did I say 4million shticky go back to sleep lol I said 1-2
Bb you said they should hold 4 mill the first year then 3 then 2 and so on…you had to ask Lyle when people pointed out that’s not how retaining salary works so yes you were right they did retain salary but other than that you had no idea what you were talking about…
Sane as Tokarski…you didn’t say they were going to waive him you said maybe Condon might make the team. I said I can’t see them waiving Tokarski to which you said Bergivin could probably trade him…..remind me what were you right about? Its not Luke you said Condon is for sure making the Habs…yet here you are thumping your chest again.
Ill admit I didn’t know exactly how salary retention worked I thought it could be averaged out like the way salaries work out towards each year! but I never said 4 million per I said 1-2 it would be avg
I said condon would make the team over tokarski you said they would be stupid to keep condon what were they gonna do with tokarski! then you went on to say how much better tokarski was then condon and went to your go to with some sort of meaningless stats you read somewhere!
Sure let’s continue…You said Franson wouldn’t get a first or a decent prospect. You also said Winnik wouldn’t get a second…you also said Santorelli wasn’t worth more than a 4th Kassian is a great pickup…Semin wasn’t worth anything until the Habs picked him up then Bergivi was a genius… Big bear you’re no different than anyone else on this site accept your big mouth when you think you’re right.
You didn’t think Babcock was coming, you didn’t think any experienced GM was ever going to want to work in Toronto with Hunter and Dubas…ya Big bear is always right.
i think poile was wrong in giving a 1st for franson and santerelli franson was a healthy scratch and than was lucky to signed! trading prust for kassian and a 5th was a good trade on the ice lol if semin scores 20 at 1.1 bergevin is a genius! and babcock would be stupid not to take what we gave him do you think he would have chosen Toronto if it wasn’t so much? and shticky your the guy who said lepsic was a better prospect than Ritchie in Anaheim lol
And now your excuses….point i s big bear for a guy who claims to know so much and be do much smarter than the average bear you seem to not know how the cap or salary works and you are wrong as much as anyone here yet every time you think you’re right (even when you’re not) you are the only person here who brags about it for weeks…its a hockey thread. Get over your self. Its not a job interview.
And for a guy who bases nothing on stats and only watching games how are you comparing Liepsoc and Ritchie were you driving from Milwaukee or Portland to Peterborough or the Soo? Didn’t that make things difficult to watch all the 30 or so games that Condon played for the Hamilton Bulldogs last year? I thought bears only crapped in the woods not you I guess because you’re still full of it…lol
don’t you get tv or internet in Kingston? lol leipsic better Ritchie!!?? lmao
Losing Lucic and the return was good. Hamilton I didn’t like that deal at all. Management should of nevered gave up on Seguin, from what I read the only person who wanted to keep Seguin was Don Sweeney, which I thought was great, then he traded Hamilton because it was thought he didn’t want to be in Boston. Should’ve of made him stay or at least talk to Nashville for a trade with one of their young guys or Edmonton for a package that included Nurse. They didn’t so time for me to move on. Hopefully the bruins stop running young talent out of Boston.
Boston does have many question marks.
Losing Lucic and Hamilton isn’t as bad as you think.
Lucic had a bad year and didn’t give 100%.
Hamilton was a turnover machine and never threw a check.
But Chara and Siedenberg are aging and injured and who knows how
Pasternak,Baleskey,Connelly and Hayes will do.
Will Krejci stay healthy?
They could be anywhere in the standings.
lucic not so much but Hamilton is a huge loss! a young 1-2 dman for draft picks that might turn out was a bad trade should have gotten atleast one young nhler imo
Watch a team claim Tokarski pretty quickly! The Leafs should claim him, for goaltending depth. After Bernier/Reimer, all they have is Bibeau. Well, they have Sparks, but that’s all for depth. Tokarski could be the call-up in case of injury to Bernier or Reimer.
he already cleared! didn’t think he would be we don’t need another so so goalie like tokarski
WE as in BB runs the Leafs.
good one gramps.
lol good one guru
Difference between us BB ?
When Im right about something Im not a donkey.
You with the Kessell thing, since I havent been here much lately you must have sat on that for a long time.
Different opinions are what keeps hockey talk interesting.
Your pompous, arrogant behaviour ruins it for myself and others.
I suggest you move on Gramps and troll someone else.
the only reason I bring that up is the way you were calling me a kessel hater and I was just saying that to troll you! I don’t start making personal comments until you do
Calling someone “gramps” is a sure sign of your own immaturity Hockey Guru. And since a “guru” is defined as a teacher or master of a certain knowledge you seem to think pretty highly of yourself. I’m 77 and have probably forgotten more about hockey than you’ll ever know. Am I opinionated? You bet. Just like you and everyone else in here. But I draw the line at dissing someone simply because of their age.
You’re right George. I apologize for my behaviour regarding BB. He has frustrated me , still no excuse and I will move on.
The NHL seems to be trending towards larger goalies, which Tokarski is not. Beyond having a decent run against the Rangers in the playoffs a couple years back with Price out, he’s been pretty average.
..and this pre season he stunk and got bumped by a guy who hasn’t played a single NHL game yet. Probably why he’s not been picked up.
your right habs it no knowledge fans like guru who just don’t get it
And you know how good a player will be by watching him play vs the Leafs in pre season.
Im sure my next post will be censored as you just cant leave me alone can you ?
I just make hockey comments and when you and shticky don’t agree with me you just start trolling making comments like the gramps one I don’t start saying comments back until you start
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s episode of opposites attract! Will Big bear and Guru finally confess their love for one another? Will Schticky and Big Bear continue to be in their loveless marriage?
This was a presentation of Spector’s entertainment (trademark pending)
You just make hockey comments ? You bring up my name in posts to others. Good hockey comment.
I think you have me confused calling you a Kessel hater. I doubt I did,even so it gives u no right to be a jerk.
you forgot is guru shitckys alter ego?? time will only tell lol
taz you forgot is guru shtickys alter ego?? lol
LOL Taz!!
bigbear on October 6, 2015 at 3:15 pm
I just make hockey comments
HOCKEY QUOTE your right habs it no knowledge fans like guru who just don’t get it
HOCKEY QUOTE # 2 bigbear on October 6, 2015 at 4:17 pm
taz you forgot is guru shtickys alter ego?? lol
You’re delusional.
Anyways Im done with you .You want to post your commetns about me, so be it. I’m moving on and ignoring you.
Yep just make hockey comments.
I don’t know if you can consider a handful of larger goalies a trend. I can only think of 2 very large guys off the top of my head. Bishop and Darling. Bishop is a bit overrated imo (I consider myself somewhat of a Bolts fan) and Darling …we’ll see.
Well, if you think back to the days when goalies were routinely anywhere from 5’6 to 5’10, the trend today is certainly is trending towards “large”
Devan Dubnyk, Arizona, Anders Lindback, Coyotes and Matt O’Connor, Ottawa – all 6′ 6″
Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota, Robin Lehner, Buffalo and Pekka Rinne, Nashville – each 6′ 4″
Reto Berra, Colorado, Martin Jones, S.J., Eddie Lack,Carolina, Kari Lehtonen, Dallas, Steve Mason, Flyers and Mike Smith, Arizona – all 6′ 4″
Frederik Andersen, Ducks, John Gibson, Ducks, Michael Hutchinson, Jets, Chad Johnson, Buffalo, Roberto Luongo, Florida, Curtis McElhinney, Columbus, Ondrej Pavelec, Jets, Carey Price, Montreal and Cam Talbot, Oilers – all 6′ 3″
Jake Allen, Blues, Craig Anderson, Senators, Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus, Corey Crawford, Chicago, Brian Elliott, Blues, Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins, Braden Holtby, Capitals, Ryan Miller, Canucks, Kari Ramo, Flames, Tuukka Rask, Bruins, James Reimer, Toronto, Cory Schneider, NJ. – all 6′ 2″
Big bear.. What do you expect out of leaf fans?????
I mean according to them they would get a kings ransom for Kessel and hold no salary.. But in reality we all saw they didn’t get value and they held salary.
Watch them jump on me and say how the trade was good value!!
Moving on.. These guys also believe the leafs will make a ton of moves at the deadline for picks.. And high picks at that.
Bottom line is they are delusional fans.. That think they know a lot about hockey.
If they vote solidly Liberal in the coming election and put in that airhead Trudeau, that alone will call into question their collective IQ.
If who votes solidly Liberal ?
Those in the GTA. They seem to have a love affair with having their pockets picked through ever-rising taxes and “premiums” that “aren’t a tax” but nevertheless come off your taxes.
Wow. Tokarski on waivers. At 26y/o, $525k and a RFA at the end of the year, that’s a good deal. I have seen worse backup goalies for more money than that. Anybody claimed him?
Nope. And he can’t be that good and that much of a “bargain” if the Habs don’t see him as a 10-12 game replacement for Price.