Change of situation: The Canadiens are on track to lose young players to waivers, including two short-term prospects, just like the Senators
There's a philosophy that says that by drafting often, the chances of stumbling upon a player who will make a career in the NHL are higher. However, this approach has another side to its coin that is less joyful, and the Ottawa Senators are beginning to realize this.
A few days ago, Pierre Dorion cut young defenseman Lassi Thompson, forcing him to go through waivers in the process. Thompson didn't wait long to find out his next destination as the Anaheim Ducks, who had the 1st waiver pick, selected him, thereby obtaining a first-round pick (19th overall in 2019).
Last Tuesday, the Senators also placed defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker (26th overall pick in 2018) and forward Egor Sokolov (61st overall pick in 2020) on waivers.
While this situation might seem comical from the perspective of the Canadiens' fans, they should, however, refrain from laughing. Indeed, Montreal will find itself in this very same dilemma in one or two years, following their many selections in recent drafts.
This issue has already begun, with Cayden Primeau and Jesse Ylonen having to go through waivers if they're cut. Primeau's case is currently causing a lot of headaches for the organization as they seemingly don't want to lose Ylonen for nothing.
Next season, it'll be Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Justin Barron, Jordan Harris, Mattias Norlinder, and Nathan Légaré's turn to go through this process. In the following years, Sean Farrell, Emil Heineman, Jan Mysak, Arber Xhekaj, and Kaiden Guhle, to name just a few, will follow.
While many of these names will have certainly reached the NHL level by the time their waiver exemption expires, many will still be between the big league and the AHL. Thus, we risk losing many young players to waivers over the next few years.
Here are the players from the Canadiens organization currently exempt from waivers according to the website Capfriendly :
Add to this the fact that teams can only have 50 contracts active, and we see the limits of drafting often, especially if these players have great potential. The choices will then be heart-wrenching!
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 8 | 258 ANSWERS Change of situation: The Canadiens are on track to lose young players to waivers, including two short-term prospects, just like the Senators Do you think Cayden Primeau will be waived? | ||
| Yes | 127 | 49.2 % |
| No | 131 | 50.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
