Flames place Nicolas Meloche on waivers

A day after announcing their season-opening roster, the Calgary Flames have made another move. Per NorstarBet’s Chris Johnston, the Flames have placed defenceman Nicolas Meloche on waivers.

Meloche signed as a free agent with the Flames this past summer, signing a one-year deal with a $950,000 cap hit. He was named one of seven blueliners to begin the season on the Flames roster, albeit with Michael Stone unsigned and Oliver Kylington away from the club dealing with a personal matter.

Now before you shout “Hey, this means they’re signing Stone soon, right?” the two moves aren’t necessarily connected. The Flames already have an open roster spot and $1.175 million in cap space available, so they could sign Stone without tying their hands cap-wise or force themselves to make a roster move.

What the Meloche move is probably about is roster flexibility. Once a player clears waivers, they can spend 30 days on the NHL roster (or play in 10 games) without having to go through waivers again. So if you’re the Flames and you want the ability to bank some cap space on games the team isn’t playing – and doesn’t need a full roster – then waiving a depth defender like Meloche makes a ton of sense towards that end.

The Flames open their 2022-23 regular season schedule on Thursday when they host the Colorado Avalanche.