Three Players Waived On Monday Including Former First Round Pick.

The waiver process is always a risky one in the National Hockey League, but that becomes especially true when the player being waived is one that you spent a very valuable first round pick on.

On Monday, three players around the NHL were placed on waivers with 25 year old New York Rangers defenseman Matthew Robertson, 27 year old Calgary Flames defenseman Brayden Pachal, and the biggest surprise 25 year old Flames forward Connor Zary all being waived.

Robertson has spent the majority of his professional career with the American Hockey League's Hartford Wolfpack but did get the majority of his National Hockey League experience last season on the main roster. He had 6 goals and 12 assists for 18 total points over 72 games with the Rangers last season.

Pachal on the other hand has never been sent down to the AHL since joining the Flames back during the 2023-24 NHL season, and the majority of his 177 career games, as well as his 6 goals and 22 assists for 28 total points over his NHL career have come almost entirely with the Flames.

As I mentioned the big surprise here is Zary who is a former Flames first round pick, now being made available to any team around the league for basically nothing. Zary was selected 24th overall at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft and has spent the majority of the last 3 seasons as part of the Flames NHL roster. His 193 career games, as well as his 39 goals and 48 assists for 87 career NHL points have all come as a member of the Flames.

Zary is far and away the most likely player to be claimed here and it will be very interesting to see if he somehow makes it through waivers.