Each season, get another chance in the NHL via the waiver wire. Jacob Stoller lists five players who found their footing after getting claimed off waivers.
Each season, get another chance in the NHL via the waiver wire. Jacob Stoller lists five players who found their footing after getting claimed off waivers.
Picking up players off of waivers is kind of like thrift shopping.
You dig and dig through the low-risk, low-reward assets up for grabs in the hopes of finding something useful, although you know every asset you’re looking at has a short shelf life. Similar to thrifting, you’ve got to be conservative — a useful player may come on the wire, but their contract is pricey, and it’s not much of a deal.
But when you find valuable players off waivers — typically for close to league minimum money, with the biggest price spent being the contract spot they take up — it’s like finding that swanky retro baseball jersey from the ‘80s. Is it the nicest quality? Heck no. But it slaps and vibes with your style.
The St. Louis Blues claimed Kasperi Kapanen off waivers last week, and he scored against the Sharks last game. He has a chance to be the best waiver claim of the 29 by the end of the season.
But at the moment, five players claimed off the waiver wire have impressed the most for their teams this season with a larger sample size than Kapanen's. Here are those players, with one doing so well in his role that another team traded for him.
5. Johnathan Kovacevic, D, Montreal Canadiens
When players with more than one year on their contract hit the waiver wire, teams rarely scoop them up. Let alone a player that has played just four career NHL games.
But when Johnathan Kovacevic, fresh off signing a three-year contract in the summer, found himself on the wire as one of the Winnipeg Jets’ final cuts — the Montreal Canadiens didn’t hesitate to commit league minimum money to him for the next few years. As it would turn out, Kovacevic, at that dollar figure, is actually a bargain of a deal.
Averaging 16:55 per game, Kovacevic has recorded two goals and eight assists in 57 contests. The 25-year-old right-shot defenseman has been a stable, calming presence on Montreal’s third pair while also undertaking a heavy workload on the penalty kill.
4. Michael Eyssimont, LW, Tampa Bay Lightning (Claimed by San Jose Sharks)
Michael Eyssimont came out of nowhere for the Winnipeg Jets this year.
After being an early cut at Jets training camp, Eyssimont popped off with the Manitoba Moose — recording nine points in nine games. When the Jets’ forward depth was decimated by injuries, the feisty winger was among the first players summoned from the minors. Eyssimont, 26, stood out through his 19-game stint with Winnipeg — recording five points — although once Winnipeg got healthier, he found himself on the outskirts of the lineup and then on waivers soon after.
Eyssimont caught the eye of the San Jose Sharks, who claimed him off waivers when he was up for grabs in early January.
On top of recording eight points in 20 games with San Jose, Eyssimont has also posted solid underlying numbers — small sample sizes be damned — with a 58-percent Corsi-for and a 61-percent expected goals-for rating. He fit in well alongside Alexander Barabanov and Logan Couture on the teams’ second first line before he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for forward Vladislav Namestnikov in the week leading up to the trade deadline.
Eyssimont injected energy into a basement-dwelling Sharks team, which the Bolts hope will carry to their squad. If he can take fewer penalties, Eyssimont could very well become an effective pest. The guy baited his now-current teammate Brayden Point into a fight for crying out loud.
3. Connor Ingram, G, Arizona Coyotes
It’s not often that you see a goalie go from recording a .913 save percentage in four NHL playoff games to hitting the waiver wire a few months later.
But that’s exactly what happened to Connor Ingram.
Ingram, 25, had developed an impressive track record in the AHL — posting a .919 save percentage through 149 career games — but his resume didn’t make Nashville too confident, as they signed Kevin Lankinen to be the backup ahead of the season. Ingram was one of Nashville’s final training camp cuts and Arizona scooped him off waivers thereafter.
While shouldering a third of the Coyotes’ workload this year, Ingram has played well, especially considering the team in front of him. He boasts a .908 save percentage through 22 games. According to moneypuck.com, Ingram’s 4.2 goals saved above expected ranks him 27th in the NHL.
Ingram wasn’t moved at the trade deadline, but he’s a cheap backup who can steal some games from time to time, including his 47-save shutout against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 15.
2. Juuso Valimaki, D, Arizona Coyotes
Being claimed by the Arizona Coyotes was probably the best thing that could have happened to Juuso Valimaki.
The Flames’ first-round pick in the 2017 NHL draft experienced major setbacks in his formative years with the Calgary Flames — a high ankle sprain in his rookie year, followed by a torn ACL the year after — and he ended up spending most of last season in the AHL despite having 73 NHL games under his belt.
The 24-year-old needed to find his game. Playing for Arizona forged him the best pathway to do so with ice time up for grabs on a bottom-dwelling team.
Since being claimed ahead of the regular season, Valimaki has evolved into an everyday NHL defenseman in the desert.
Averaging 16:41 per game, Valimaki has recorded 22 points in 58 games with Arizona this season. According to naturalstattrick.com, Valimaki also has a respectable 51.94 Corsi against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, which puts him 34th of 234 players with at least 200 minutes played. He’s also caught fire offensively lately, with 10 of his points coming over the last 12 games, including a four-assist outing on Feb. 11 against the St. Louis Blues.
The Coyotes signed Valimaki to a one-year contract extension in January.
1. Eeli Tolvanen, RW, Seattle Kraken
Exhibit ‘A’ of why NHL GMs don’t usually cut bait on former first-round picks so easily — Eeli Tolvanen.
After a rollercoaster first two seasons with the Nashville Predators — where he combined for 45 points in 115 games — the 23-year-old right winger tumbled down the Predators’ depth chart this year. In an interview with The Hockey News in January, Tolvanen said he received mixed messaging from Nashville. They often flip-flopped between wanting him to be a scorer and a defensive-minded forward. He recorded just four points in 13 games with Nashville this year.
When the 2017 first-round pick hit the waiver wire in December, the Seattle Kraken pounced.
Since debuting with Seattle on New Year’s Day, Tolvanen has recorded 20 points in 28 games, with his 10 goals through that span putting him behind Jared McCann’s 14 tallies for the team lead. While the Finnish forward is mainly known for his power-play prowess, he’s actually been one of the teams’ most impactful producers at 5-on-5 since joining — recording eight goals (first) and 11 points (sixth).
Chalk this move up as another shrewd move by Kraken GM Ron Francis & Co.
Honorable Mentions: Josh Mahura (D, Florida Panthers), Tyson Jost (C, Buffalo Sabres), Magnus Hellberg (G, Detroit Red Wings)