Montreal Canadiens: Paul Byron Clears Waivers

Montreal Canadiens forward Paul Byron cleared waivers today.

This was the second time that the veteran left winger and assistant captain was placed on waivers this season.

Byron has played a terrific role from the bottom six over the past few seasons, but has struggled to find much offence for the past two years for the Canadiens.

Byron was hurt most of last season, but scored only four goals and ten points in 29 games. This year has been more of the same as he has two goals and seven points in 27 contests. With the Canadiens adding more depth on the wings with Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli and Corey Perry, Byron has been on the fourth line all year.

He once could produce offence from the fourth line, or even while killing penalties, but that hasn’t been the case this year.

Byron signed a four year contract that kicked in last season with a cap hit of $3.4 million. He has six goals and 17 points in 56 games since that contract began. Byron even seems to have lost a big of his speed that used to be his bread and butter. It used to seem like Byron would get a breakaway every game but that hasn’t been the case this year.

Byron clearing waivers allows him to be placed on the taxi squad on days that the Habs don’t play. This helps the Canadiens add a few dollars into their cap space every day that he is technically not on the NHL roster. This is what has been happening every off day since Byron cleared waivers for the first time back on February 16th.

For now, Byron will likely still play most games, but just get shuffled on and off the taxi squad in order to do so.