The Montreal Canadiens can discover the ideal roster fit on waivers right now.
Earlier this week, the Montreal Canadiens made a few roster changes. Justin Barron and Mitchell Stephens were shipped out of town, or more accurately, shipped across town to the Laval Rocket.
Tanner Pearson made his injury-affected comeback to round out the lineup, and Arber Xhekaj was brought up to the big club. Even though these might not seem like major movements at all, head coach Martin St. Louis would have to deal with a far more uncomfortable lineup every night as a result of this.
With Barron replaced by Xhekaj, the team’s only remaining right-shot defenders are David Savard and Jonathan Kovacevic. Although the squad now only has three natural centers on the roster, it’s hardly the biggest issue.
Jake Evans, Nick Suzuki, and Sean Monahan are the only players that frequently play center since Stephens is out and Kirby Dach and Christian Dvorak are sidelined. That is not ideal, and as a result, all three of them had to play a lot of minutes against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
The Canadiens need to add another center to their roster, to put it simply. Unless they are listed on waivers, centers might be hard to locate and don’t suddenly pop up on your roster. The Canadiens might find what they’re looking for on waivers today, though. The Calgary Flames have placed Adam Ruzicka on waivers, so he is available for grabs today.
This season, the enormous center has only scored nine points in 39 games, landing him on waivers. The 24-year-old did, however, appear somewhat better in earlier seasons. In just 44 games with the Flames the previous season, he scored 20 points, and in just 16 AHL games in 2021–22, he scored 11 goals and 20 points.
He therefore has some offensive potential and provides plenty of size down the middle of the ice at 6’4″ and 215 pounds. The Slovakian native was selected by the Flames in the fourth round of the 2017 NHL Draft. He advanced through the ranks gradually to become a regular player in the NHL, and in his 114 games, he has scored 40 points.
The Canadiens recently moved Joshua Roy down to the Laval Rocket, freeing up a space on the roster because they literally don’t have enough centers. They are probably going to move Monahan in the coming weeks as they won’t be receiving any return from injury from Dvorak or Dach this season. In order to have someone play center for the final 35 games, they definitely need to add some depth.
Getting a 24-year-old monster off waivers for free is a no-brainer for a rebuilding team that needs to ice a full lineup, especially one who has shown some offensive promise over the last two seasons.