Pool Players in Waiver Activity (Feb 26)

It's looking like a busy Saturday in the hockey world today, so I'm going to try my best to keep my poolies up-to-date with players they may have or might be looking at. I'll start with the players that were claimed off waivers this morning and then the new names put on.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have taken a shot at the veteran leadership of Craig Rivet and at half price from re-entry waivers, it should work out in one way or another for the Jackets.  Rivet has an annual cap hit of $3.5 million, which now gets cut in half ($1.75 million) and then gets prorated for the remainder of the season, which should work out to just over $410,000 until the end of the regular season.  Not a bad move and it sees some more leadership join the Jackets at a reasonable cost.

The Philadelphia Flyers don't mind having size on their blueline, which made Nick Boynton a pretty good target for them on the waiver wire.  Boynton was claimed after being put on waivers on Friday, joining a pretty big and talented defense corps already.  Boynton is a good-sized defenseman who fit in the Chicago system on the cheap (league minimum), so he was a natural selection for the Flyers.  If Boynton becomes a 7th defenseman for them, they'll be okay.

With a couple of healthy scratches under his belt in the past week, Rob Schremp has made it to the waiver wire this weekend, possibly as a move to help his career along, send him to the minors or just for plain flexibility. It's hard to tell at the moment, as teams will be posturing for some more moves this weekend.

The Senators have placed Pascal Leclaire on waivers on Saturday, likely to have him play in the AHL for the rest of the season. Leclaire is down there at the moment on a conditioning assignment, but if he can clear waivers on Monday, he can be down there for the rest of the year, trying to get healthy again. I think that is the most likely scenario there.

The Blues have also made a goalie move, as they have placed Ty Conklin on waivers on Saturday, which is somewhat curious, since Jaroslav Halak is still hurt. If Halak's injury is more severe than initially thought, the Blues may be in the market for a new goalie, which might mean Conklin is the odd-man out, but it's really hard to say at the moment.

Finally, the Lightning have placed Curtis McElhinney on waivers, likely with the intention of sending him down to the AHL, ending a quick logjam in the nets for the Lightning.  The recall of Mike Smith was the clincher on this move, not to mention the Dan Ellis trade, so this one is a bit of a slam dunk.  McElhinney is likely a career back-up, so this doens't come as much of a surprise.

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