The Montreal Canadiens are desperate for healthy defencemen at the moment and had to dip into the waiver wire to add some talent.
With Jeff Petry injured earlier this week, he joined Shea Weber and Joel Edmundson on the injured list, making it just three of the team’s top four defenders that can’t play right now. Sami Niku is also out as he is on the Covid-19 list and is ineligible to play.
So, the Canadiens claimed Kale Clague from the Los Angeles Kings.
It is not that they just needed anybody so they grabbed Clague, that would be selling the player short. The 23 year old was a second round draft pick not long ago and has put up 37 points in 72 AHL games and has 11 points in 33 career NHL games over the past three seasons. He is a gifted skater and intriguing offensive player that was well worthy of a pickup on waivers.
Unfortunately, Clague got off to a bit of a tough start in his first game with the Canadiens.
He is playing on the third pairing with Brett Kulak tonight and is on his off side playing right defence as a left shot.
Clague tried to make a breakout pass from behind his own net, but he misfired and it didn’t take long before Pat Maroon tucked the puck into the Canadiens net.
"He lost it... Maroon... SCORE!"@DaveMishkin🎙 #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/JqOQknmG5i
— Lightning Radio (@BoltsRadio) December 8, 2021
In Clague’s defence, the puck was rolling weirdly as he tried to fire it up the ice. Give him credit for actually trying to make a play from his own zone and not just firing the puck around the boards like we often see from the Canadiens defenders. Obviously it didn’t work out great for him this time, but the reason he was picked up at all was because of his heads up passes and that is exactly what he is trying to do here.
There is no grand statement being made here about Clague’s ability, but it is a really tough way to start one’s stint with a new team.