With just a few days before the Wings have to get compliant with the 23-man roster limit and the Wings well over that limit after their 8th and final preseason game in Boston on Saturday night, it was only a matter of time waiting until the really important waiver decisions were made.
We don’t have to keep waiting because Renaud Lavoie, who has been doing daily waiver announcements on Twitter has us covered:
Waivers: MATTHEW LOMBARDI NYR MICHAEL KOSTKA NYR STEVEN KAMPFER NYR CEDRIC DESJARDINS NYR KEVIN PORTER DET MITCHELL CALLAHAN DET
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) October 5, 2014
Waivers: LANDON FERRARO DET JASON LABARBERA ANA FREDERIC ST. DENIS CBJ T.J BRENNAN CHI
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) October 5, 2014
So Mitch Callahan, Kevin Porter, and Landon Ferraro didn’t win jobs with the team and now must be exposed to waivers in order to be returned to Grand Rapids to start the season. As we wrote in our Waiver Primer post, the other 29 teams will have 24 hours to put in a claim on those three or pass. If all 29 team pass, the Wings will be able to assign them.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that they HAVE to be sent down immediately, as they have a 10 game/30 day countdown for a waived player before he would have to clear again, but the writing is on the wall. Porter was a hard-working energy player and Ferraro played well on the penalty kill, but neither were likely to steal a spot. Callahan was an early offseason favorite for additions to the team, but wasn’t impressive enough to stick around. Of the three, Callahan is probably the most-likely to be claimed, although I don’t think it will happen.
More roster moves will be coming in the next few days and perhaps more players placed on waivers. For now, we’ve got three to keep an eye on. We’ll know around noon tomorrow the fate of these players.
[Update:] According to the Freep, Nick Jensen and Alexey Marchenko have also been assigned to Grand Rapids. Xavier Ouellet remains with the team for now.
[Update 2:] A couple more sent down. Nestrasil remains among the forwards, so it looks like the three keepers are Cleary, Glendening, and Nestrasil at this point.
According to Ken Holland: Jensen, Marchenko, Nosek and Pulkkinen sent to Grand Rapids. Roster down to 26.
— Chuck Pleiness (@wingsfrontman) October 5, 2014
