The 2023-24 NHL season kicks off Oct. 10. The Athletic has their complete NHL season predictions, including a wacky look at the potential bottom feeder teams.
Monday is the deadline for NHL teams to submit their cap-compliant, opening-night rosters. Teams were forced to make their final cuts Sunday, which resulted in several established NHL players hitting the waiver wire, especially because some clubs have to run with fewer than 23 players on their roster for salary cap purposes.
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Let’s take a quick look at some of the most intriguing players available on the wire.
Rosen was a bright spot on an otherwise disastrous Blues blue line last year. He scored eight goals and 19 points in 49 games, with all but one of those points coming at five-on-five. On top of that, Rosen’s 48.1 percent expected goal share was the top mark among the club’s defenders and the Blues carried a plus-19 goal differential during his five-on-five minutes (although the goal differential was definitely inflated by a high PDO, which is a sign he had lots of puck luck).
He was playing a sheltered third-pair role, so that’s a noteworthy asterisk, but it’s a bit puzzling why he didn’t earn a bigger, more consistent role under Craig Berube last season.
St. Louis couldn’t risk losing a higher-pedigree defense prospect like Scott Perunovich or Tyler Tucker on waivers, which explains this decision. Making just $762,500 and offering legitimate third-pair chops, Rosen is an intriguing option for a team searching to bolster its back end depth. —Harman Dayal
Jones is the most experienced goalie on the wire, with nearly 450 career NHL games. He’s struggled statistically, as he’s only managed a .900 or better save percentage once in the last five years, but he’s consistently handled a large workload, including 48 games for the Kraken last season.
That experience playing as a regular 1B over the last few years rather than a pure backup could make him attractive for a team like the Tampa Bay Lightning in light of Andrei Vasilevskiy’s injury Tampa Bay could use a goalie who’s comfortable playing multiple games per week, which is a very different mental hurdle compared to a traditional backup, who’s used to playing very sparingly. —Dayal
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Anderson-Dolan is an excellent skater and works hard, but for a smaller forward whether there is enough natural offensive touch has been the question keeping him from a legit NHL role and on the bubble the last few years. Los Angeles has a deep forward group but maybe a lesser team sees room for JAD in its bottom six. —Corey Pronman
Zach Bogosian, RD, Tampa Bay Lightning
Bogosian has been a steady, reliable contributor for Tampa Bay’s blue line, with the highlight being his play in a couple of deep playoff runs. He’s looked slow in more recent times, even though his underlying metrics look fine. Darren Raddysh’s playoff breakout bumped Bogosian down a slot on the right-side depth chart. Bogosian has tons of experience, size, physicality and is cheap with a $850,000 cap hit. —Dayal
Studnicka, 24, didn’t make much of an impression in 47 games with the Canucks last year as he only notched eight points. The speedy, high-motor forward bounced back with an excellent training camp and preseason. He looked revamped as a player and poised to earn an energy fourth-line role, but Vancouver lacks size and could use more penalty killers, so they decided to acquire Sam Lafferty instead.
Studnicka is far more effective on the wing than at center, but he can still take draws as a right-hand option. He could be an effective fourth-liner if he can maintain the type of speed and aggressiveness he’s shown in camp and preseason, plus he used to be a high-pedigree prospect. —Dayal
Stalock authored an admirable bounce-back after contracting myocarditis that forced him to miss most of the 2021-22 season. The veteran goalie notched a .908 save percentage in 27 games for the Blackhawks last season, before signing a one-year, one-way deal with the Ducks this summer. But with John Gibson established as the No. 1 and top prospect Lukas Dostál proving himself ready to be the backup, it’s left Stalock as the odd man out in Anaheim. —Dayal
Raphael Lavoie had a strong second half in the AHL last season for the Bakersfield Condors. (Larry MacDougal / AP)Lavoie is a big winger with very strong offensive skills and a great shot. He led Bakersfield in goals and was second in points last season, but he’s in tough to crack a strong Oilers forward group given that he’s not a strong skater and especially given his inconsistent effort. He has a strong track record of scoring and a good enough toolkit that I can see another organization without much scoring depth giving him a chance. —Pronman
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Teams are always looking for extra right-shot defensemen and given the thin crop of those available defenders, Coghlan could be an intriguing name. The 25-year-old has good size at 6-foot-2, 207 pounds and was solid in 59 games for the Golden Knights in 2021-22. Carolina acquired Coghlan as a sweetener in the Max Pacioretty deal but he struggled when he was in the lineup (vastly outperformed by Jalen Chatfield) and because of that, only appeared in 17 games. —Dayal
Boyd scored 15 goals and 34 points for Arizona last year, plus 17 goals and 35 points in 74 games in the 2021-22 season. The problem for Boyd is that he’s sort of a tweener. He’s not quite talented enough offensively to be a top-nine center on a good team (his point totals are juiced from playing top-six minutes the last two years) and yet he doesn’t have the defensive identity of a prototypical fourth-line pivot.
He’s clearly an NHL-caliber player but Arizona’s enhanced center depth with Barrett Hayton, Logan Cooley, Nick Bjugstad and Jack McBain meant there wasn’t a fit anymore. —Dayal
Christian Wolanin, LD, Vancouver Canucks
Wolanin won the Eddie Shore Award as the best defenseman in the AHL last year. He also left a really positive impression in 16 NHL games for the Canucks down the stretch with his poised puck-moving and steadier-than-expected defensive play. It was enough for the Canucks to reward him with a two-year extension. Many had him penciled on the third pair to start the season, but that logic was predicated on Carson Soucy or Ian Cole shifting to the right side, which doesn’t appear to be happening. Couple that with Wolanin’s pedestrian form through camp/preseason and that’s why he’s available. —Dayal
Thomson was a first-round pick by Ottawa who was previously claimed by Anaheim a few days ago. He’s been a top-four AHL defenseman but has yet to break through into the NHL. Thomson has good offensive skills and a big shot, but whether he’s a good enough defender or dynamic enough offensively to compensate is the debate with him. A team that has an open power-play spot may want to gamble on him, but that is what Anaheim did and he didn’t look strong with them in the preseason. —Pronman
Prosvetov is a goaltender who scouts have liked at points in his career due to his big frame and excellent side-to-side quickness. His decision-making and technique aren’t the best, though, leading to significant inconsistencies in his game. He’s been an average pro goalie to date, but maybe another organization would like to gamble on his unique toolkit. —Pronman
Honorable mentions
Joel Armia (didn’t crack the main list because his $3.4 million cap hit is prohibitive), Radim Zohorna, A.J. Greer, Magnus Hellberg, Vinnie Hinostroza, Nathan Walker, William Lagesson, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Zach Aston-Reese, Colin White
(Photo of Zach Bogosian: Kim Klement / USA Today)
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