Montreal Canadiens Could Strike Waiver Wire Gold Again
3. Daniel Sprong
One of the biggest surprises on waivers this morning is Daniel Sprong. The Pittsburgh Penguins took Sprong in the second round of the 2015 NHL Draft and he actually made the team out of training camp as an 18 year old. He played 18 games before being sent back to the Charlottetown Islanders of the QMJHL.
Sprong is a highly skilled right winger that has scored impressive totals at every level below the NHL. He just turned 22 years old, so it is not out of the realm of possibility that he could soon turn into a scorer at the NHL level as well.
In the 2017-18 season he scored 32 goals and 65 points in 65 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League. He was 20 years old at the time, showing he had the skills to be a trusted scorer at the pro level at an early age.
Sprong split last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks. With the Penguins, he was used in a fourth line role and scored accordingly. He had just four assists in 16 games before being shipped to the Anaheim Ducks.
In Anaheim, he was given better linemates, skating alongside Adam Henrique and Nick Ritchie for most of his 47 games with the Ducks. He scored 14 goals in that time but had just five assists. This shouldn’t be a condemnation of his playmaking ability, as almost everyone in Anaheim had a hard time scoring goals last season. Ritchie had nine in 60 games and Henrique dipped below the 20 goal threshold for the first time in four years.
Sprong’s 14 goals in 47 games had him putting the puck in the net at the rate of a 24 goal scorer over a full NHL campaign. He was a highly touted prospect for a reason and showed he can certainly score 20 goals if given decent linemates.
With the Habs, Sprong would slot in behind Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki on the right side. That could put him on a third line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jonathan Drouin. Playing with two skilled playmakers and primarily facing third pairing defensemen, Sprong could score 25 goals with the Habs.
Paul Byron was able to become a consistent 20 goal scorer after the Habs claimed him on waivers, why not Sprong who grew up in the area? He has one year left with a paltry cap hit of $750,000, so he will be motivated to prove he is an NHL caliber player after being given up on by the Ducks.
2. Christian Djoos
There are a few considerations to take into account before just grabbing a player off the waiver wire. First of all, the Habs already have 48 players under contract and can carry 50 at most. That means they have room to acquire two more players, but teams like to keep a few slots open to acquire players throughout the season. You don’t want to get to the trade deadline and have 50 contracts on the books and then try to become buyers.
Also, the team needs to have just 23 players on the NHL roster by supper time today. They already have 24, and it is too late to put a player on waivers in order to take him off the roster and ship him to the minor leagues.
However, the Canadiens can stickhandle around the 23-man roster limit a little but by “sending” a player like Ryan Poehling, Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Cale Fleury or Victor Mete to the minors on paper and then putting a veteran like Christian Folin or Mike Reilly on waivers and “re-calling” the young player when the veteran clears waivers.
The young player they “send down” would never actually leave town, he would just have his name left off the roster for a day so Bergevin can get rid of a veteran player via trade or waivers.
Though the Canadiens need to be roster compliant today, they do not play a game until Thursday, so they have a few days to manipulate the roster before taking the ice against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Having said all that, we all know that the Canadiens general manager loves to acquire depth defensemen and he loves players that have some winning pedigree as well. Christian Djoos checks both of those boxes.
He is not going to jump into the top four, but he is just 25 years old, is a left shooting defender and played regularly on the Stanley Cup winning Washington Capitals just over a year ago. He played 45 games for the Caps last season and scored ten points.
That is some decent depth to get for absolutely nothing. Djoos would be a big upgrade on depth defenders Mike Reilly and Christian Folin, and though he may start the season as the seventh defender, he would be a trusted player to plug into the lineup whenever injuries strike.
It’s possible he could take a meteoric rise like Kulak a year ago, but even if he doesn’t, his experience at such a young age is a valuable commodity on a team that will likely be battling for a playoff spot once again.
1. Sven Baertschi
As things currently stand, the Canadiens top six looks to be Phillip Danault between Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher as well as Max Domi on a line with Nick Suzuki and Artturi Lehkonen. Their third line features Jonathan Drouin and Jesperi Kotkaniemi being joined by Jordan Weal. The fourth line will be a mixture of Paul Byron, Joel Armia, Ryan Poehling, Nate Thompson and Nick Cousins.
Where I could see the team trying to find an upgrade right now is to their third line right wing. Sure, Weal played well when he joined the Canadiens but he has just 54 points in 169 career NHL games. He is skilled, but he is 27 years old and his career high for points is 21.
A player who has had consistent results over the past four seasons is Sven Baertschi. Originally a first round pick by the Calgary Flames after being a scoring phenom in Junior, Baertschi’s scoring rates have been consistently solid for the Vancouver Canucks since 2015.
The 26 year old native of Switzerland has scored at just over a 20 goal pace in each of the past four seasons, though he battled injuries each year. Since joining the Canucks, Baertschi has scored 58 goals in 219 games. That is a 22 goal pace over a full season. He has rarely played top line minutes in that time, scoring his goals from the second and third line, which is exactly where he would fit in with the Canadiens.
Baertschi’s presence in the Habs lineup would either push Drouin over to the right wing where he played most of the preseason, or could see Baertschi move to the right side where he played some of his games with the Canucks.
Either way, like with the Sprong scenario, the Canadiens would roll out a third line centered by Kotkaniemi that would be capable of adding plenty of depth scoring. Potting 20 goals would be a certainty if Baertschi could stay healthy for 80 games.
The only downfall is his hefty contract. Baertschi will earn $3.36 million for each of the next two seasons. That would be a problem for many teams, but not the Montreal Canadiens. They currently have more than $4.5 million in cap space and will have even more once they reduce the roster to 23 by sending a couple of players to the minors.
This could actually work in the Canadiens favour. Due to where they finished in the standings last season, they are the 18th team in waiver priority ranking. That means 17 teams would have to pass on a player for the Habs to have a chance to take them. Though Baertschi is a proven 20 goal threat when healthy, many teams could not take on his contract and stay under the salary cap.
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Teams are always looking for more goals, and Baertschi has been scoring at about a 25 goal pace for the last three seasons. He would be worth his cap hit to help add a third scoring line to the Canadiens lineup.