Boston’s efforts of trimming its NHL roster down to 23 over the last few weeks has regularly offered little in terms of surprises — with rookies destined for the CHL, AHL regulars and two-way contracts standing as the first crop of skaters and goalies set loose from the B’s training camp.
But with just a week to go before the Bruins open up their regular-season slate of games, the B’s are now clearing space in camp by parting ways with some established NHL talent — with both Chris Wagner and John Moore officially hitting waivers on Saturday afternoon.
While the purpose of placing both Wagner and Moore on waivers is to assign them to Providence, teams will now have until 2 p.m. Sunday to claim them and add them to their roster. If the 31 other teams in the NHL pass, then both Wagner and Moore will report to Providence’s training camp.
It was to be expected that both Moore and Wagner were going to be on the outside looking in at starting spots in Boston’s lineup to open the year — but Saturday’s news still does come as a bit of a surprise. After all, Boston’s depth both on defense and on the fourth line was already a bit thin, especially with Curtis Lazar now week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
With Moore either getting claimed (which is unlikely) or sent to Providence, the Bruins’ seventh defenseman spot will be handed to Jakub Zboril. Urho Vaakanainen is still on the camp roster, but he’s current sidelined with an upper-body injury of his own.
BSJ Analysis:
There are multiple factors to weigh when it comes to the Bruins’ decision to cut two NHLers loose from their roster.
The obvious one, of course, is that Boston believes it’s better off with other options still on the camp roster — be it Zboril as the spare D-man or a mix of Karson Kuhlman and Anton Blidh on the checking unit next to Trent Frederic and Tomas Nosek.
The writing did seem to be on the wall when Kuhlman was skating with Frederic and Nosek during Friday’s practice over Wagner, but the gap between Wagner, Kuhlman and Blidh did seem to be awfully thin.
Jack Studnicka still remaining up with the NHL roster does once again leave the door slightly ajar when it comes to him carving out a spot — be it on the fourth line or potentially on the third line if Bruce Cassidy wants to slot down Erik Haula or Nick Foligno. But based on Cassidy’s recent comments, such a scenario seems unlikely.
Another factor involved here is the cap savings that come with Moore/Wagner either getting claimed or moving down to Providence. If clearing cap is the primary goal here, then Boston would likely be thrilled if a team was to take Moore and the remaining two years and $5.5 million ($2.75 million AAV) off their hands. But, let’s be frank, no team is going to scoop up that contract for a player in Moore who’s likely either a sixth or seventh defenseman at this point.
But even if both Moore and Wagner do go unclaimed and report to Providence, Boston does free up some cap space by stashing them down in the AHL. If they stay with the Baby B’s, both Wagner and Moore would only count for $1.85 million against the cap, freeing up around $2.25 million for Boston as a result.
If Moore and Wagner both clear waivers, B’s would have $3.8M in cap space. Perhaps Studnicka is called up to replace Lazar, that would still leave them with comfortable $3M in cap space https://t.co/Nhl9AiyKfg
— Bruins Cap Space (@bruinscapspace) October 9, 2021
Perhaps another move could be in the works by freeing that cap space, because otherwise, sending both Moore and Wagner down to Providence does seem to carry some risk. You could make the argument that Wagner/Blidh/Kuhlman were interchangeable in terms of the next men up on the fourth line with Lazar out, but removing a guy in Moore who — all things considered — actually looked pretty solid in preseason action and leaving just Zboril as the next man up on an already thin D corps could backfire if injuries creep back up.
As is the case with most moves made before an NHL roster is finalized, it sure seems like there are a few dominoes still to fall here.