St. Louis Blues Place Seven Players on Waivers in Advance of Cutdown
The St. Louis Blues began preparing for their next mass cutdown on Friday afternoon, placing forwards Danny Kristo, Justin Hodgman, Pat Cannone, Cody Beach, and Jeremy Welsh, along with defensemen Peter Harrold and Andre Benoit, on waivers. The NHL requires that veteran players be exposed to waivers before they can be reassigned to the minors, so the Blues seemingly are running these seven players across the wire so they can be sent down to the AHL Chicago Wolves in the coming days. Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock suggested several days ago that the Blues’ next round of cuts would be rather massive, getting the number of players on the roster down to the 30s, so this group figures to be included in the next cut. The players don’t necessarily have to be sent down as soon as they clear waivers, but it makes sense that the moves would be imminent considering that the Wolves’ training camp starts on Tuesday.
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Welsh is the only player among the seven who is scheduled to be part of the Blues’ lineup when they travel to face the Chicago Blackhawks in a Saturday night preseason matchup. None of the seven really appeared to be legitimate candidates for the opening 23-man roster, though Hitchcock mentioned Cannone several weeks ago as a candidate for the extra forward job that was created by Patrik Berglund‘s injury. That position, however, now looks more likely to be filled by someone among Ty Rattie, who has been looking to break out for the past two years, Jordan Caron, who signed with the team on a two-way contract this offseason and has 153 games of NHL experience, or Scott Gomez and Scottie Upshall, two aging NHL veterans who were invited to training camp on professional tryout deals (meaning that they’ll either make the team or be released at the end of camp).
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Considering their shortage of (or complete lack of) NHL experience, it’s unlikely that anyone among the forward group will be claimed on waivers. However, Harrold and Benoit, who have 484 games of NHL experience between them, may be more susceptible to being snatched up by a new team. The Blues were thrown a curve last year when defenseman Nate Prosser, who like Harrold and Benoit, had signed a two-way deal during the offseason, was claimed by his former team, the Minnesota Wild, on waivers as the Blues were trying to get him to the minors. It’s always more likely than not that a player will pass through waivers when they’re placed there, simply due to the fact that teams prefer to operate with guys who are familiar with their system, but considering recent events, the Blues should be prepared to lose a player. It appeared that they overstocked on defensive depth specifically because of the Prosser situation last year; they signed Harrold and Benoit despite already having Joel Edmundson and Colton Parayko, two emerging prospects who were on the verge of earning NHL time last season, plus recent early picks like Jordan Schmaltz, Tommy Vannelli, who are now advanced enough to play in the AHL and be ready in case of injury.
The Blues will find out the fate of their recently-waived players on Saturday afternoon.