Canadiens claim defenseman Kale Clague off waivers from Kings

Down multiple defensemen at the moment, the Canadiens have added some depth on the back end as they’ve claimed Kale Clague off waivers from the Kings, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports.

The 23-year-old somewhat surprisingly cleared waivers at the start of the season and picked up four assists in five games with AHL Ontario, which helped him earn an opportunity when the Kings were battling injury issues to their defense corps.  Clague was actually relatively productive in his 11 games with the Kings, picking up five assists while logging nearly 18 minutes a game, but with Drew Doughty recently returning and Clague sitting for nearly two weeks, they decided to try to send him down again.

The Canadiens have battled injury issues all season and find themselves without Jeff Petry (upper-body injury), Joel Edmundson (back injury) and Sami Niku (COVID protocol), so there is definitely a chance that Clague can secure a spot with Montreal in the short term at the very least.  Laurent Dauphin was sent back to AHL Laval to make room for Clague on the roster; they Habs will have to make another move later as well as they’ve already committed to activating Mike Hoffman off IR before tonight’s game.

Clague is making a bit more than $761K this season and will be a restricted free agent with salary-arbitration rights next summer.