A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens Could Strike Waiver Wire Gold Again

By Ken MacMillan

MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 2: Vancouver Canucks Left Wing Sven Baertschi (47) passing the puck during the Vancouver Canucks versus the Montreal Canadiens game on November 2, 2016, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 2: Vancouver Canucks Left Wing Sven Baertschi (47) passing the puck during the Vancouver Canucks versus the Montreal Canadiens game on November 2, 2016, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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RALEIGH, NC – MARCH 28:  (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC – MARCH 28:  (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /

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.

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