Something is going to have to give in Montreal where the Canadiens have too many forwards, want to keep their young prospects on the NHL roster, and have a useful defenseman coming off of the injury reserve and almost ready to step back into game action. Joel Edmundson hasn’t been given the go-ahead to return yet, but when he is cleared, a player has to be moved.
Arpon Basu of The Athletic reports the Canadiens are likely going to have to trade one of their 15 forwards when Edmundson is ready to return to the team. The club could send Juraj Slafkovsky down to the AHL, but he’s played well enough to warrant sticking around. The Canadiens don’t want to send the message that a young player can be waived when it has nothing to do with their production.
Alternatively, the Canadiens could place forward Michael Pezzetta on waivers to make room. But, there is some belief he’ll be claimed by another team, so that seems like a no-go too.
“…they could opt to put a forward with a less digestible contract on waivers and ultimately send that player to Laval to alleviate the current situation. Whoever that winds up being, whether it’s Evgenii Dadonov or Mike Hoffman or Jonathan Drouin or whoever, that’s going to be a difficult conversation.”
Is It Going to Be Evgenii Dadonov Who Gets Demoted or Moved?
There’s a lot of chatter that the timing of Evgenii Dadonov being “injured” is convenient considering his being a healthy scratch, that he might be the player the Canadiens elect to depart with. Eric Engels of Sportsnet writes:
“Naturally, Evgenii Dadonov’s sudden need for treatment on consecutive days after being scratched is fuelling a lot of reasonable speculation that he’ll eventually be waived to free up a roster spot for Joel Edmundson, who doesn’t yet have the green light from docs.”
He adds, “That won’t die down until Edmundson is cleared and a move has to get made.” Engels notes that it doesn’t have to be Dadonov to waivers, “but with the unlikelihood he’ll be claimed and the potential desire to keep all the kids with the Canadiens, that’s why it can be termed “reasonable speculation.” He also says that keeping 15 forwards seems untenable—and Kent Hughes can’t exactly offload one via trade without taking money back.
More must-reads: