3 players hit the waiver wire on Sunday.

3 different teams waive a player.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
3 players hit the waiver wire on Sunday.
David Kirouac/CSM/Zuma

We have some significant activity on the waiver wire today.

According to a breaking news report from Sportsnet National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman a total of 3 teams have placed a player on waivers today and some of the names that are available are very interesting indeed. The players being waived today are Jordan Schmaltz of the St. Louis Blues, Nikita Scherbak of the Los Angeles Kings, and perhaps most surprisingly Chris Wideman of the Florida Panthers.

The player I believe is the least likely to be picked up here is 25 year old defenseman Jordan Schmaltz of the Blues. In spite of being a former 1st round draft pick, selected 25th overall in the 2012 National Hockey League Entry Draft, Schmaltz has never really found a long term role for himself at the NHL level. Since being drafted nearly 7 years ago he has appeared in a total of just 42 NHL games and is relied upon exclusively as a depth option at this stage of his career. The fact that the lowly Blues are willing to waive him speaks volumes although there is a chance one team takes a stab at him as a reclamation project but I believe that is unlikely. 

Much more interesting however is the availability of 23 year old right winger Nikita Scherbak. Rumor has it that the Canadiens were not happy about losing Scherbak on waivers earlier this season to the Kings and if that is indeed the case there is already one team with a real reason to take a stab at him on the waiver wire. If the Canadiens still want Scherbak in the folds of their organization this will be their chance to claim him, although he could in theory be claimed by another team first. 

Last but not least we have the oldest player on this list 28 year old veteran defenseman Chris Wideman. The veteran defender has moved around a ton this season already, starting the season with the Ottawa Senators who would trade him to the Edmonton Oilers who then themselves turned around and traded him to the Florida Panthers after just a few short games. The fact that he now founds himself on waivers after being traded twice this season seems to point to the fact that he may be damaged goods at this stage of his career. That being said I would not be shocked to see a team pick up up purely to have more depth on the blue line.

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