Montreal Canadiens: Interesting Waiver Options Available for Habs Today

The Montreal Canadiens are nearing the end of a lengthy training camp as they prepare to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

Though we are unlikely to see any big trades between now and the drop of the puck in two days, we might see a tiny bit of tinkering today.

Teams need to have their rosters finalized for opening night by this evening at 5:00 PM EST.

With that in mind, a lot of teams placed their last cuts on waivers yesterday afternoon, giving teams until 2:00 PM EST today to make a claim. The Canadiens don’t have a lot of openings, but with Joel Edmundson, Cedric Paquette and Mike Hoffman injured, and Ryan Poehling not exactly running away with the fourth line centre job in camp, they could use a little depth until they become healthy.

Keeping in mind they mostly need a left defenceman, which would allow Kaiden Guhle to return to Junior or a fourth line centre, let’s take a look at the options the Canadeins have on the waiver wire today.

Alex Barre-Boulet

Barre-Boulet is a 24 year old centre who signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018 after a terrific Junior career in the QMJHL. Many Habs fans were upset that the Canadiens didn’t land him then, and they would have even more reason to be displeased if the Habs pass up on him today.

Barre-Boulet spent most of the past three seasons in the AHL, but he scored 69 goals and 136 points in 144 contests at that level. He played just 15 games at the NHL level so far, but he is a supremely talented centre. Picking him up would put him on a line with Mathieu Perreault and Artturi Lehkonen, giving the Canadiens a fourth line that can score.

Adam Brooks

Brooks is another skilled centre that could fill the same role mentioned above with Barre-Boulet. Brooks has bounced between the NHL and AHL for the past few seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 25 year old scored eight points in 18 NHL games, and has 33 points in his last 46 AHL games.

Kevin Stenlund

Stenlund isn’t a big name in the NHL, but he is a big centre in the NHL. He is 6’4″ and 215 pounds and he plays a pretty steady defensive game. He is just 25 years old and scored 11 goals and 20 points in his last 64 NHL games over the past two seasons. I wouldn’t expect him to steal a top six role ever, but he could be a reliable defensive centre with size for the fourth line, giving Poehling an extra year of development time.

Travis Hamonic

He is big, blocks shots, will fight and can kill penalties. That means Marc Bergevin like him no matter what else he does. The “else” in this case is not showing up for Vancouver Canucks training camp under mysterious circumstances. With Shea Weber gone and Joel Edmundson injured, Bergevin will need someone to convince him not to claim Hamonic.

Andrej Sustr

Speaking of big, right handed, defensive defencemen, the 6’7″ Andrej Sustr is on waivers after two seasons in the KHL. The Czech Republic native has 324 games of NHL experience, almost entirely with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and could fill a third pairing need short term until Edmundson returns and reshuffles the pairings.