Why would they put Gustafsson on waivers? They will just lose him for nothing.

Cool so gustavson is gone

He's already 1.5m$ retained, there will logically be a team claiming him if he's on waivers.

You think? We traded a 7th round pick for him. And he wouldn’t be eligible for the playoffs for anyone who claimed him.

“Logically” ?

The return Philly was able to get for him AFTER retaining half his salary was a 7th round pick. From a team who he had the potential of being available for in the playoffs. He’s worth a waiver claim now that he wouldn’t be available to that team? And the reality is that teams don’t have the cap space even if they wanted him. That’s why he just cost a 7th.

Not likely, no.

He was 0 value at 3m, but at 1,5m he was worth a 7th. There's a team that claimed Sami Vatanen who has the exact same stats at 2m$

Yes, Dallas claimed Vatanen because he could be playoff depth for them. No one who claims Gustafsson now could use him in the playoffs except us. No owner of a non playoff team is looking to take on the end of year salary of a pending UFA right now. And that would all be contingent on the hypothetical team having cap space, which they would have used on deadline day if they had it. It was a buyer’s market.

A team can get a #6 D for free. I know he wouldn't be eligible for the playoffs but if a team has too many injuries/not enough roster players, they can just claim him. Anyways, it's not happening. Few teams place players on waivers after the TDL and most of them are AHLers. If they bring Caufield in the NHL, it won't be by waiving someone.

I don't understand 2 things 1. Why waive anyone when Byron cleared waivers not that long ago and should still be waiver exempt for a couple of more games? 2. Pretty sure the Habs have the cap space to add Caufield now that they sent both Primeau and Ouellet to the taxi squad after last game as per Eric Engles

Edit** Even if we don't have the cap space for his bonuses, pretty sure MB would still call him up and deal with the overages in the offseason or next season

To your edit. Yes, I agree that’s something that he could do. But at the same time, it’s something that he would strongly prefer not needing to do. Using waivers for someone who won’t get claimed accomplishes both goals.

I’ll hear you out. Who are your three most likely destinations? (Teams who would right now claim Gustafsson).

Hard to tell but Winnipeg maybe. I don't really like Gustafsson but the Bruins could use an extra body.

Winnipeg has no cap space (they’re into LTIR just to get to their current roster), so they don’t have the space to add.
Boston could, but why would they give playing time to Gustafsson over Reilly (similar role) who could actually play for them in the playoffs? The message is the same, if they wanted him, they would have paid a 6th but chose not to. Why they would all of a sudden decide they need him now, Just for the stretch run? Nah...

I don’t think Gustafsson is going to be the only one in this situation, btw. I’d imagine most, if not all, of the rentals who were traded for 7th round picks will find themselves on waivers with pretty much all going unclaimed. Not much risk for Bergevin, worst case, you lose a 7th for nothing, but chances are, he clears and ends up on your taxi squad in case you need him to replace an injured player.

We'll see, this is a different season with the taxi squad and the flat cap so maybe they will do it. But I don't think GMs want to risk losing a player for free right now.

Ok but you completely ignored the point of my comment which was why waive anyone when Byron doesn't need waivers to be sent to the taxi squad plus it opens a forward spot and accounts for Caufields full cap hit plus bonuses. Risking any peice needlessly is bad asset management.

Non-playoff team might want to take him for a test drive and decide if they want to re-sign him later. 🤷🏻‍♂️

You’re assuming there is a risk. I’m arguing that there is no such risk.

You're losing a roster player for free.

Byron on the taxi squad alone isn’t enough to cover for Caufield’s bonuses. I get that some people are saying we shouldn’t care about Caufield’s bonuses, but I guarantee you that Bergevin does not share your opinion.

Yes it is possible, but no I wouldn’t bet on it.

I believe Bergevin was on the Chicago staff that had to trade away Byfuglien, Ladd and others because of Toews bonuses.

In your opinion. You state it as though it’s a fact. Which makes you wrong. The worst case scenario on my end is that we would lose a 7th round pick. Basically zero risk.

Byron on the taxi squad does open enough space Cole's bonuses equate to 1.3 Mil right?! We currently have 245k in space according to capfriendly. Add to that the 1.05 mil from Byron and it equals... Drumroll.... 1.3 Mil!

Edit I missed the update on Capfriendly today. The current projected cap space for the Habs is 362,436 and the current cap space using all of the LTIR is actually 2,102,129 so we don't even need to move Byron to add Caufield.

The current projected cap space doesn’t include any bonuses that will be paid out to KK, Suzuki, Romanov, or Caufield.
Yes we CAN add Caufield. You miss the larger point. It is not desirable to have larger bonus overage penalties than lower ones.