The Vancouver Canucks had one more cut to make after the opening-day roster deadline.
When the waiver wire was announced on Tuesday, it came as somewhat of a surprise that Canucks defenceman Mark Friedman was among the players on waivers. It seemed like the Canucks wanted to keep eight defencemen on the roster, as has been their preference in the past, to ensure that they were covered for potential injuries, keeping Friedman and Noah Juulsen as the team's seventh and eighth blueliners.
Instead, Friedman was waived with the intent of assigning him to the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL.
It's a surprising move but it's one that makes sense for several reasons.
One is that there's a good chance that a player will clear waivers when waived after the roster deadline. Every team across the NHL has their lineups set, many of them right at the salary cap with no room to add another player. Rejigging their roster to fit a waiver claim at this point would be a lot to ask.
If Friedman clears and is assigned to the AHL, it gives the Canucks an open spot on the roster in case they want to call up a player like Arshdeep Bains or Phil Di Giuseppe ahead of Wednesday's home opener. General manager Patrik Allvin had strongly implied that Bains could get called back up this week when Monday's roster was announced.
Alternatively, the Canucks could keep 22 players on their roster and use the extra cap space from waiving Friedman to accrue a little bit more cap space for a few days before they go on their road trip, at which point they'll likely want to have 23 players to cover for bumps and bruises on the road.
Teams typically use waiver-exempt players to do these types of cap gymnastics but the Canucks have just two players who don't need to clear waivers on their roster — Aatu Räty and Arturs Silovs — and one of them is the team's likely starting goaltender for their home opener.
Getting a player like Friedman through waivers now will allow them to juggle him between the NHL and AHL for a little while, accruing extra cap space the entire time. A player does not need to clear waivers again until he has spent 10 games or 30 cumulative games on the NHL roster.
With the Canucks avoiding LTIR to start the season, fans should expect these types of minor roster moves throughout the season as the management team looks to create as much space as possible throughout the season. Theoretically, this should allow them to make a major addition at or before the trade deadline.
