Breaking: Another player lands on waivers in order to get contract terminated!

We have seen this happen quite a bit since the start of the season and another National Hockey League team has made the decision to place a player on unconditional waivers in order to get his contract officially terminated. If the young defenseman goes unclaimed, the Carolina Hurricanes will get their wish. 

On Friday, the Hurricanes placed young blue liner Michael Fora on unconditional waivers to put an end to his contract, as reported by NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. 

The Canes has signed the 22-year-old defender to a two-year, two-way contract back in June, weeks before the NHL Entry Draft in Dallas. The deal was expected to pay Fora $650,000 at the NHL level in 2018-19 and $700,000 in the NHL in 2019-20. The Swiss blue-liner’s AHL salary for both years was to be $70,000, with a signing bonus of $100,000.

“Michael is a good-sized defenseman who had a strong season in Ambri and was used in a top-pairing shutdown role during Switzerland’s run at the World Championship,” Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell had said at the time of the signing in a press release. “He adds depth to our defensive corps on the right side.”

However, there is already loads of depth on the right side of the back end in Carolina. The Hurricanes have been named many times in ongoing trade rumours and often, NHL insiders have pointed out their depth on the blue line, especially on the right side. It is possible that the kid would never be able to compete with the rest of the talented prospects and wanted to head back home instead. It appears to be a mutual decision between the young player and the Hurricanes organization. 

Fora only played in one game for the Canes' AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers after being re-assigned there earlier this season. 

Fora has spent the last three seasons with HC Ambri-Piotta of the top-Swiss league, NLA, and recorded six goals and 27 points in 50 games this past season. He then joined Switzerland at the world championships, helping his country to a silver medal.

The six-foot-four, 214-pound defenseman has recorded a total of 42 points (10G, 32A) in 132 career NLA games for Ambri-Piotta.

As for Thursday's waivers, both defenseman Eric Gryba (New Jersey Devils) and forward David Ullström (Arizona Coyotes) have cleared and will be assigned to their respective team's AHL affiliates.