Opening Day Waiver Claims

A couple of waiver claims were made on Thursday morning, leading off with the New York Rangers making a claim on defenseman Jeff Woywitka from the Montreal Canadiens. Woywitka signed with the Habs in the middle of August, but wasn't able to secure a roster spot out of training camp, while the Rangers are dealing with an injury on their blueline. This move signals that they may not be too comfortable running with so much youth on their blueline, with four defenders under the age of 25 on their active roster at the moment.  With the Rangers facing off in Europe, it does seem unlikely that Woywitka will be able to skate for them in their opening games.

The Jets were also in the waiver claim business on Thursday morning, as they claimed forward Brett MacLean off the wire from the Phoenix Coyotes. MacLean was another player that was last to be cut from his training camp squad, but had to pass through waivers in order to get to the AHL.  MacLean is, at best, a depth forward in the NHL at this point in his career and the Jets could still use some quality depth up front.  Don't expect too much out of this move right away.

Neither player are involved in the pools, to this point, this season, so these moves are regarded as minor.  Woywitka has an outside (a long, outside) shot at being picked up at a waiver draft this year for the draft pool, but neither will feature in the selection sheet pool this year.