Former 1st round pick among those placed on waivers on Thursday
Today (September 28th) marked an important date in the NHL, as it's the first day of waivers activity ahead of the 2023-24 season. What that means is that now, the players who need to clear waivers in order to be assigned to the American Hockey League can now begin being placed on waivers.
As training camps wear on and teams look to trim down rosters, the waiver wire is going to become increasingly populated. As far as today goes, however, there were only 7 names on the list - one of which is very surprising.
Per TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston, Spencer Martin (VAN), Cal Burke (COL), Taylor Fedun (PIT), Jonathan Gruden (PIT), Xavier Ouellet (PIT), Rem Pitlick (PIT) and Ty Smith (PIT) were the only players placed on waivers on Thursday. Surprisingly, 5 of them came from Pittsburgh and one of them is a former 1st round draft pick.
Defenseman Ty Smith was originally drafted 17th overall by the New Jersey Devils in 2018 and appeared to have a very bright future ahead of him. Smith played two additional years in the WHL with the Spokane Chiefs before finally getting a look at the NHL level with the Devils. He went on to suit up in 114 games with the Devils before being shipped off to the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer in exchange for defenseman John Marino.
Smith played just 9 games for the Pens last season before being sent down to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, where he produced 24 points in 39 games.
It's clear that Kyle Dubas is attempting to sneak his first group through waivers early to avoid losing them on waivers, as teams work to try to establish their rosters in training camp. While most of these players are expected to clear, I'd venture to guess that Smith will be among those that teams will seriously consider claiming, especially because he's signed through this season at a very modest $775K, which is the league's minimum salary.
Smith could be an interesting addition to any team looking for a bit of a project. The Leafs were known to take a run at these types of players in the past, though they don't exactly have a lot of room on the blueline at the moment.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 28 | 427 ANSWERS Former 1st round pick among those placed on waivers on Thursday Will Ty Smith be claimed off of waivers tomorrow? | ||
| Yes | 345 | 80.8 % |
| No | 82 | 19.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
