HabsWorld.net --
Sunday is the final day for waiving players in advance of Monday’s season-opening roster deadline. The Habs were busy on that front today, placing both Joel Armia and Gustav Lindstrom on waivers.
Armia has struggled the last two seasons, notching just 14 points in each of them while missing 61 games combined due to injuries and illness. While he’s a capable defensive player and penalty killer, it’s fair to say that he isn’t living up to a contract that carries an AAV of $3.4 million that runs through next season. It’s that contract that makes it a near-certainty that Armia won’t be picked up on waivers even though he’d fit on several rosters around the league.
Montreal won’t be able to clear Armia’s full cap hit off the books by demoting him. They’ll only be able to free up $1.15 million in doing so; his remaining $2.25 million would stay on their cap if he makes it to the Rocket. That part remains an if as it’s possible that this move is being made strictly for season-opening cap-planning purposes where he’ll be among the players papered to Laval on Monday and then recalled in advance of Wednesday’s opener against Toronto.
Meanwhile, Lindstrom came to Montreal from Detroit earlier this offseason as part of the Jeff Petry trade. A right-shot defenceman, it was believed that he could be a sixth or seventh option, similar to what Johnathan Kovacevic did last season. However, he was limited to just two preseason games which didn’t give him much of a chance to make an impact.
Lindstrom is signed for this season at $950,000, an amount that can be fully buried in Laval if he makes it there. He’s a semi-viable candidate to be claimed and, again, this could be a cap-planning move more than an actual demotion so don’t pencil him into the lineup for the Rocket just yet.
One notable omission from waivers today is Cayden Primeau. Montreal, like quite a few other teams, is still carrying three healthy goalies and will do so on Monday’s roster. With Tampa Bay and possibly Colorado on the lookout for goalie help, they’re not taking any chances there. There are six goalies on the wire today, headlined by Alex Stalock (ANA), Martin Jones (TOR) and Magnus Hellberg (PIT).
There are still cuts to be made in advance of Monday’s roster deadline but those players will be waiver-exempt, allowing the Canadiens a bit more time to make their final decisions.
