Montreal Canadiens: Three Teams Who Could Claim Paul Byron

Ottawa Senators

While it is no guarantee that Byron gets claimed today, the team most likely to put a bid in would be the Ottawa Senators. And, since they are terrible, they would have first dibs on grabbing a player from the waiver wire.

The Senators have been awful this season, but that doesn’t surprise anyone. They knew they were bringing along a lot of young players and would have growing pains this season. What they didn’t know was the handful of veterans they brought in to guide the young players would all fail miserably.

The Senators traded a second round pick for Derek Stepan to come in and be a veteran leader for this young team. Stepan has as many trade requests (1) as goals in 15 games and has just four points. He wants to be traded back closer to his family in Arizona as soon as possible.

The Sens also brought in Braydon Coburn and Cedric Paquette from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Paquette had one point in eight games and was just traded to the Carolina Hurricanes. Coburn had one point in eight games before being placed on waivers and then moved to the taxi squad to make room for Erik Brannstrom.

So, with all of those veterans out, or wanting out, it would make sense to bring in another one. Byron is from Ottawa and played his Junior hockey across the bridge in Gatineau. He would be an excellent mentor for a very young team like the Senators.

Byron’s cap hit would not be a problem for the Sens who are 30th in payroll this season. In fact, if they plan on trading Stepan, they need to add some money to stay above the cap floor. Claiming Byron would make it easier to move Stepan sooner, though I don’t think they’ll be getting their second round pick back.

It’s quite possible that Byron’s contract ensures he doesn’t get claimed at all. But there are several teams who will be considering it today, and none of them make more sense than the Ottawa Senators.