Former first round pick has been claimed on waivers!

A former first round draft pick who was placed on the waiver wire Sunday has been claimed by a rival team. 

On Sunday Sportsnet National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Winnipeg Jets were placing Marko Dano on the waiver wire. At the time of the announcement my first thought was that, given the lack of center depth many teams around the NHL currently appear to be struggling with, there was a strong possibility the 23 year old center could end up being claimed, and that is exactly what has happened today. 

Once again it's none other than Elliotte Friedman who was the first on the news, reporting this time that Dano had in fact been claimed by the Colorado Avalanche organization. There are a few key details that we still don't know here, for example it's unclear whether or not any other team around the league attempted to make a claim for Dano, information that could impact how the Avalanche proceed with him on their roster. 

If the Avalanche were the only team to submit a claim they are now free to send him down to the American Hockey League without having to submit him through the waiver process themselves, however if any other team tried to claim him the Avalanche would be unable to send him down without once again risking him on the waiver wire. It's also worth noting here that the waiver priority for the first month of each season is based on the standings from the previous seasons, which makes it difficult to speculate about who may, or may not, have put in a claim for Dano's services. 

In spite of the fact that Dano now leaves a pretty solid team in the Winnipeg Jets, I get the impression that he's likely quite happy to be leaving that team and joining just about any other team in the NHL. Over his 4 seasons as a member of the Jets Dano was never able to consistently earn a spot on the main roster and in fact he never appeared in more than 38 games in a single season. The start of the 2018 - 2019 NHL regular season proved to be no different for Dano and in fact he failed to appear in even a single game for the Jets this season, once again something that I believe would lead him to welcome a change of scenery. 

Dano was once a highly touted prospect and I believe that within the right situation he could demonstrate that he has what it takes to be a consistent player at the NHL level, although admittedly given his stagnant development in recent years that would be an uphill battle for him. His best season in the NHL came with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, and in that season he appeared in 35 games and recorded 8 goals and 13 assists for a total of 21 points that year. 

That is the form that the Avalanche will be hoping he can recapture. 

[pub]