Montreal Canadiens: Not everyone can have a Paul Byron

You can’t help but smile when you think of the Montreal Canadiens and Paul Byron considering what he’s done for the team since being claimed.

On days like these when the Montreal Canadiens aren’t playing or practicing, there are few things you can do when it comes to the NHL. If you’re a fan/supporter of another team, you may want to check out one of their games, or perhaps you decide to take some time away from the sport. There are also many fans, myself included, who always want to stay on top of what’s going in the league and scan social media for news.

Thursday was a good day for that considering the Sami Vatanen trade and for Habs fans, Marc Bergevin trading Peter Holland for Adam Cracknell. When it comes down to it, after your 10-15 minutes of scrolling through Twitter feeds, you’ll most likely come away with the occasional waiver move.

For example, the Edmonton Oilers claimed Nathan Walker from the Washington Capitals. They’re most likely hoping that the 23-year-old will have some kind of impact on the lineup, but it’s never a guarantee when it comes to waivers.

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Hopefully, you read that last sentence and started smiling to yourself a little bit considering the Montreal Canadiens struck gold, silver, and platinum when they claimed Paul Byron off waivers in 2015.

Memories

Remember that? Remember when Byron spend the first couple of games in the press box before scoring on that shorthanded breakaway in his second game? Just thinking back to how he would make a staple for himself on the team and then score 22 goals the next year speaks to how lucky the Habs got with Byron.

Two years after the initial waiver claim and the 26-year-old has worked his way up from playing on the fourth line to the first. Fans have seen his versatility reach it’s peak this year as he can either play in a shutdown role or with players like Jonathan Drouin and Alex Galchenyuk who have immense skill.