The Montreal Canadiens have been dealing with an incredible number of injuries and illnesses this season.
They have needed to reach deep down into the organizational depth chart to fill out a lineup for some games around the Christmas break. They are starting to get healthier and will now have to make some roster decisions.
They made a surprising move this afternoon when they placed defenceman Sami Niku on waivers.
The Canadiens signed Niku to a one-year $750,000 contract at the beginning of the season. He has played 13 games with the Habs this season and put up six points, all of them being assists. Niku is a smooth skater and brought some offensive upside to a plodding blue line almost completely devoid of scoring this season.
The 25 year old isn’t going to lead a team in scoring or push for a Norris Trophy, but he appeared to most fans to be a capable NHL player. I certainly thought he would be around for the rest of the season on the NHL roster to see if he can prove to be a full time NHL player in the future. With the team struggling so much this season anyway, didn’t it make sense to get a long look at a younger defenceman?
Especially when you consider how many of the veterans could be gone before the trade deadline. Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak and Chris Wideman are all in the final year of their contracts before becoming unrestricted free agents. All three should be, and almost surely will be, traded before the March 21st trade deadline.
After the inevitable sell off, the Canadiens will need someone to play the final six weeks of the regular season.
The team does have eight NHL capable defenders on its roster at the moment. Chiarot, Kulak and Wideman are all still here (for now) as well as Jeff Petry, David Savard, Kale Clague, Alexander Romanov and Niku.
I suppose one of them had to go, but it seems like it would have made more sense to just trade someone like Kulak or Wideman for a mid-round pick rather than losing Niku for nothing on waivers.