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Montreal Canadiens place Jacob de La Rose on waivers

By Omar L

OTTAWA, ON - SEPTEMBER 29: Montreal Canadiens left wing Jacob de la Rose (25) waits for a face-off during third period National Hockey League preseason action between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators on September 29, 2018, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - SEPTEMBER 29: Montreal Canadiens left wing Jacob de la Rose (25) waits for a face-off during third period National Hockey League preseason action between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators on September 29, 2018, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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With a roster crunch in effect due to healthy returns, the Montreal Canadiens chose to place Jacob de La Rose on the waiver wire.

Something like this was a long time coming for the Montreal Canadiens. Andrew Shaw being ready to go ahead of time complicated things during training camp and limited the number of forward positions available. However, health allowed the Habs to stay within the 23-player window after Jacob de La Rose sat of the first set of games due to a cardiac episode/condition.

Five games later and the Habs sit 3-1-1 with seven points on the season. But de La Rose wasn’t going to stay out of commission forever. John Lu hinted ahead of practice that a waiver move could be in store for the 23-year-old. He mentioned in his tweet of the forward lines and defence pairings a tidbit of information from a team official which could see something happen with de La Rose at noon.

Seeing as he wasn’t on the ice and noon is usually the time and place for the ‘W’ word to occur, it was obvious what was going on. Now it’s official, and de La Rose is available for the rest of the league.

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In the past, he’d be an easy clear. Although the 2013 second-round pick has yet to play a game this season, there are hockey minds around the league who appreciate his style. JDLR is a good fit for any team looking to add some stability to their bottom-six so it’ll be interesting to see whether he clears or not.

If he does, the Laval Rocket earns another veteran who has had success in the minors. Before making the Montreal Canadiens out of camp last season, de La Rose was a journeyman in the farm system. He played in 133 games for the Hamilton Bulldogs/St Johns Ice Caps scoring 27 goals and 29 assists where he was an assistant captain for two seasons.

Otherwise, de La Rose is claimed and moves on to another organization. The Montreal Canadiens still have Matthew Peca and Tomas Plekanec around to play the position of fourth line centre if that happens so there is no need for panic. The only negative is de La Rose improved his play after Plekanec was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, and it would’ve been interesting to see him continue it.

Next. Value in having a goalie like Niemi. dark

The Habs aren’t completely done making decisions. Nicolas Deslauriers will most likely be placed on waivers as well once he’s ready to return. But for now, eyes are on de La Rose.

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