Subj : Canadiens Fail to Slip Juulsen Through Waivers
To : All
From : The Hockey Writers - Main
Date : Tue Jan 12 2021 04:40 am
It's easy to look back with regret in retrospect. After having seen yet another
first-round pick switch organizations, with defenseman Noah Juulsen having
just been claimed off waivers, the Montreal Canadiens may be on the verge of
second-guessing themselves. They shouldn';t.Canadiens Take a Chance
Truth be told, if there was ever going to be a season in which Juulsen would
have slipped through, it probably would have been this one. With so many teams
experiencing cap trouble, the Canadiens included to the point that coach Claude
Julien said at a training-camp presser they'd only be able to keep 21 players,
the argument is the Habs were right to try.
Julien: "We could only protect a certain amount of players that's related to
the cap and everything else. Those other guys have to go on waivers… Our cap
situation I think allows us to protect 21 players." #GoHabsGo #THW- Ryan
Szporer (@rszporer) January 11, 2021
There had been a theoretical alternative. It involved having Paul Byron help
form the Canadiens' taxi squad and waiving him instead. Considering Byron's
$3.4 million cap hit and the fourth-line role he is projected to play (beside
Jake Evans and Artturi Lehkonen), from a financial perspective it made the most
the most sense. Who would be willing to take on that hit? This season of all
seasons, with the cap staying flat at $81.5 million?
However, there is little doubt, from a skill perspective, Byron has earned a
spot. He is one of the Canadiens' 12 best forwards, bar none, not to mention an
alternate captain alongside Brendan Gallagher. Had the Habs buried Byron';s
contract, they would have been losing the services of an incredibly versatile
forward capable of elite-level penalty killing and putting the puck in the net
at an efficiency rate reminiscent of protagonist gunslinger shooting up a gang
of enemies in a climactic end-of-movie showdown (17.4%, effectively double the
league average).Juulsen Falls on Habs'; Depth Chart
In contrast, Juulsen was not one of the Canadiens' six best defensemen. He
theoretically could have made it as the Habs' seventh defenseman, but, to make
that a reality, Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin would have
realistically also had to either bury or trade the superior Brett Kulak.
Instead, Kulak remains as the Habs' third-pairing left-handed defenseman beside
rookie Alexander Romanov (shifted to the right) as part of what is an
undeniably stronger defensive corps as a result, with Victor Mete projected to
stay on as that seventh defenseman instead.Noah Juulsen - (THE CANADIAN
PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)
In a season in which the Canadiens have the potential to come out of an easier
North Division (relative to the Atlantic), Bergevin's decision to waive Juulsen
(and the newly signed Michael Frolik and Corey Perry) is logical. Granted,
considering the amount of praise Perry has earned this training camp, it was a
bit of a curve ball, but, from a sheer staying-as-competitive-as-possible
standpoint, the Habs arguably put the right players on waivers.
It of course would have been nice for Juulsen to stay on. After all, he's just
23 and still has upside, in spite of having last played an NHL game in 2018. Of
course, Juulsen (2015) represents one of now 11 straight first draft
selections on the part of the Canadiens not to stick on with the team through
their primes for one reason or another. However, Juulsen needs to play, and,
considering he had reportedly been healthy for the playoffs and didn't get a
shot then, chances were slim he would get a regular shift in a shortened
56-game schedule, in which every game means that much more, especially as
seventh defenseman.Juulsen Joins Panthers for Better Opportunity
Ultimately, this is the best result for Juulsen personally, having gotten
claimed by the Panthers, who now must keep him on their roster. Considering
ex-Canadiens director of amateur scouting Shane Churla now serves the same role
with the Panthers, it's hardly a surprise. Julien even suggested Churla had a
significant hand drafting Juulsen back in 2015.
"[Waivers were] meant… to give players an opportunity to move elsewhere if
they didn't feel they were getting an opportunity," added Julien when
responding to questions on the matter.Montreal Canadiens head coach Claude
Julien - (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
Now Juulsen has more of an opportunity. The Canadiens have more of one too.
Granted, the Canadiens would have had as strong of an NHL roster had Juulsen
slipped through waivers as they must have hoped at the time (and stronger
organizational depth to boot), but there's no point regretting the decision in
hindsight. It wasn't the only one they could have made, but, in order to win
now, it was the best one.
The post Canadiens Fail to Slip Juulsen Through Waivers appeared first on The
Hockey Writers.
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