Detroit Claims Jacob de la Rose off Waivers From Montreal

The Red Wings claimed Jacob de la Rose, who Montreal put on waivers yesterday.

According to a Sportsnet article: “The 23-year-old Swede didn’t suit up for any of Montreal’s opening five games of the 2018-19 season. While he was ruled out for the Canadiens season opener after suffering a cardiac episode following a pre-season game, he had been cleared to return to action and was practising with the team.”

He was #11 on Eyes On the Prize’s Top 25 Under 25 List this season.

According to Scott Matla of EOTP:

Jacob de la Rose originally came to Montreal as a prospect with a high defensive acumen, and some offensive flair during his time in Sweden. He had a coming out party when he captained the Swedish team at World Juniors in his last year of eligibility, and then came over the following year for his first pro season in the AHL. His offensive game showed small flashes, but never blossomed like many expected, in Hamilton and St. John’s he was the trusted center in almost all situations in spite of the lack of big offensive numbers.

At the NHL level he looked lost for a long time due in part to Michel Therrien using him as a scapegoat for brutal fourth line minutes, and that stunted his development a bit.

Positively he skates extremely well, has solid hockey sense and isn’t afraid to use his size to throw hits or battle along the boards. He was shuffled out in Montreal due to the influx of new center prospects at the AHL level, and because he wasn’t playing well enough on the wing to keep a spot over Andrew Shaw, Nikita Scherbak or Matthew Peca. He’s a 13th forward on pretty much any team, so expectations should be tempered to that at this point

This will probably end up not being a move that makes much of a difference. de la Rose seems like he has potential, but like Scott says above “He’s a 13th forward on pretty much any team.”

My initial reaction to this news was “But, why?” I’m willing to wait and see if this has any effect on other roster moves before I care too much.

Micah Blake McCurdy, the person behind hockeyviz.com doesn’t think too highly of de la Rose: