Who Needs Waivers To Go Down?
By Ryan Pike
8 years agoThe waiver wire officially opened yesterday in the National Hockey League, as we’re now 12 days away from the beginning of the 2015-16 season. That means that the Calgary Flames will need to expose a bunch of players to waivers for them to go down.
So who needs to clear waivers to leave town, and who doesn’t?
Here’s a handy rundown (ignoring Blair Riley and Dustin Stevenson, who don’t have contracts):
NO WAIVERS
- Kenny Agostino
- Bill Arnold
- Sam Bennett (but can only go to the OHL)
- Johnny Gaudreau (has 68 games of exemption left)
- Markus Granlund
- Garnet Hathaway
- Morgan Klimchuk
- Emile Poirier
- Bryce van Brabant
- Rasmus Andersson (can only go to the OHL)
- Ryan Culkin
- Keegan Kanzig
- Brett Kulak
- Oliver Kylington
- Kenney Morrison
- Jakub Nakladal
- Patrick Sieloff
- Tyler Wotherspoon
- Jon GIllies
- Mason McDonald (can only go to the QMJHL)
Don’t worry: they are NOT sending Johnny Gaudreau to the minors.
WAIVERS
Many of these players will NEVER be exposed to the waiver wire.
- Mikael Backlund
- Brandon Bollig
- Lance Bouma
- Paul Byron
- Joe Colborne
- Turner Elson
- Micheal Ferland
- Michael Frolik
- Derek Grant
- Jiri Hudler
- David Jones
- Josh Jooris
- Sean Monahan
- Mason Raymond
- Drew Shore
- Matt Stajan
- T.J. Brodie
- Deryk Engelland
- Mark Giordano
- Dougie Hamilton
- Kris Russell
- Ladislav Smid
- Dennis Wideman
- Ryan Wilson (if they sign him)
- Jonas Hiller
- Joni Ortio
- Karri Ramo
PLAYERS OF NOTE
The Flames have six prospects that are waiver exempt this season, but will require waivers next year – meaning these are the players the club basically needs to make a decision on (one way or another) this season. In other words: I’d expect to see them up in the NHL during the season so that the Flames can figure out if they want to keep them (or trade them while they still have waiver exemption left so that another team can try them out without fear of losing them).
The six are: Kenny Agostino, Bill Arnold, Markus Granlund, Jakub Nakladal, Bryce van Brabant and Tyler Wotherspoon. I’m not sure if van Brabant is really a prospect of note anymore, but the other five have all looked good here and there during the pre-season and prospect camp and are probably names that management are curious about.
I’d be shocked if those five players aren’t among the last few bodies in camp simply so that the Flames can get an extended up-close look at them.
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