Monday, October 10, 2016

Pavelec is the Odd Man Out

The Winnipeg Jets have placed goaltender Ondrej Pavelec on waivers for the purpose of reassignment on Monday, cementing the goaltending duo of Michael Hutchinson and Connor Hellebuyck for the start of the 2017 season.

The Winnipeg goaltending situation was definitely the most interesting one among all 30 training camps and there is no denying that the Thrashers/Jets were very patient with the goaltender, but the returns just were not there.  The emergence of Hellebuyck last season really opened the door for this possibility and the patience indeed ran out with the 29-year old Czech.

The Jets will save some cap space with the move, but Pavelec will be paid his entire salary with the Manitoba Moose, unless he is claimed on waivers on Tuesday, but that seems somewhat unlikely, given the time and effort a lot of teams have put into their goaltending tandems in camp.  Pavelec is also in the last year of his current contract, where his cap hit is at $3.9 million, likely too rich for teams as well.

In the hockey pool, all three goalies were taken from Winnipeg, so someone was bound to lose out, unless someone got traded or claimed on waivers.  Pool newcomer, Marcin, is that guy, unfortunately, as his Jets keeper is now out of commission for the time being.  With the demotion, Marcin's team drops down to 29 projected games for the opening week, tied for 10th in the pool in that category.

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