Wild’s Hunt, Panthers’ Schwindt, Avalanche’s Solovyov claimed on waivers

Three players who were placed on the NHL waiver wire on Thursday were claimed on Friday, as defensemen Daemon Hunt and Ilya Solovyov as well as forward Cole Schwindt will get opportunities with new teams with the regular season set to get underway next week.

Hunt was in camp with and subsequently waived by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was claimed by the Minnesota Wild, marking a return to the organization that drafted him and with which he’s made his only career NHL appearances.

The left-shot blue liner has recorded one point, an assist, in 13 games split between the last two years with the Wild in which he’s averaged 11:14 of time on ice per game.

Schwindt was waived by the Vegas Golden Knights and claimed by the Florida Panthers in a move that reflects the strong depth of the former club and the lack thereof, due to a rash of injuries and a salary cap crunch, for the latter.

Schmidt has 8 points in 49 career NHL games, and he should have a solid chance to compete for regular playing time with the Panthers with Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Tomas Nosek all sidelined for the foreseeable future.

Just like in Hunt’s case, Schwindt is returning to the organization that drafted him and with which he made his NHL debut. The Ontario native has also made NHL appearances as a member of the Calgary Flames.

The Flames placed Solovyov on waivers, and he was picked up by the Colorado Avalanche, who with the move add more depth to their blue line.

Solovyov, a six-foot-two 25-year-old, has been a mainstay with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers for the past three seasons, putting up 28 points in 59 games from the back end a year ago. In his 15 NHL games, he’s put up four assists and skated to a minus-6 rating.