MONTREAL – It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the Toronto Maple Leafs to slip a hockey player through waivers.
General manager Kyle Dubas appeared to be smiling from crying Sunday, when he thought about his waiver luck, crossed his fingers, and placed newly acquired forward Ryan Dzingel on the wire.
“He’s an NHL player,” said Dubas, familiar with the risk. “But selfishly we hope he gets through and can provide us depth. If not, that will just be another contract slot and some cash for us.”
[snippet id=5218556]
On Monday, Dzingel’s $1.1 million came off Toronto’s books as quick as it landed on them as part of the Nick Ritchie trade with the Arizona Coyotes.
The versatile Dzingel, who has two 20-goal seasons on his resume, was claimed by the San Jose Sharks, keeping him in the Pacific Division before he had a chance to pull on a planned No. 18 sweater in Toronto.
“It’s been tough,” Dubas said of his long list of recent waiver casualties. “We tried with Adam Brooks a couple of times. We were sad to lose him.”
Dubas also lost Michael Amadio to the Vegas Golden Knights on the wire, and he has since inked a two-year extension with the club.
Last season, too, waivers contributed to a drain of the Maple Leafs’ planned forward depth, as they lost Jimmy Vesey and Travis Boyd to Vancouver.
With Ritchie gone, Dubas said he’s thankful that veteran Kyle Clifford did squeak through unclaimed this season.
It’s clear Toronto would like some proven NHL-level utility forwards ready on the farm to complement with players like Brett Seney and Joey Anderson.
“You’re always looking to add,” said Dubas, acknowledging the silver lining. “We’re accruing some cap space daily, so that’s nice.”
The Maple Leafs have been pleased with the progress of Marlies Bobby McMann, Antti Suomela, Curtis Douglas, Joseph Blandisi, and Josh Ho-Sang — all of whom are on AHL-only contracts and ineligible for a call up to the show.
“Once we get closer to the trade deadline, we can make the decision of whether we want to convert any of them to make them eligible to come up,” Dubas said.
What about the blue line? Is the GM done adding on the back end now that he has secured Ilya Lyubushkin from Arizona?
“I don’t think we’ll ever say ‘never,’ ” Dubas said. “Every day is a new day. If we have the chance to improve the team, we will be looking to do so.”
[relatedlinks]
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.