Thomson was the Senators' 2019 first-rounder but was never able to grab a regular NHL foothold in Ottawa.

After being claimed off waivers by the Anaheim Ducks today, Lassi Thomson's time with the Ottawa Senators is over.

On Friday night, in the biggest cut at training camp so far, the Senators assigned 14 players to Belleville. That included Thomson, Ottawa's 19th overall draft pick from 2019, who would be starting his fourth American Hockey League season there. 

Thomson didn't do enough at camp to separate himself from the likes of Travis Hamonic or Jacob Bernard-Docker, who are both battling for the number 6 and 7 jobs this fall. Those two are both on one-way deals and Thomson, who's on a two-way, was always going to be the easier choice to send down. 

But Thomson appears to have fallen a lot farther down the depth chart than that. He was basically cut before Tyler Kleven, Max Guenette, Jacob Larsson, and Nikolas Matinpalo, who are all still in camp.

Did Thomson's game really fall below all of those players or is there more to the story?

The new wrinkle for Thomson this year was this: before he could be moved to the AHL roster, he had to clear waivers. But he didn't. He was snapped up immediately on Sunday by the Anaheim Ducks, who finished dead last in 2022-23.

With that level of interest, it's fair to wonder if Thomson was ever offered up as trade bait for even a late-round draft pick, or if the Senators simply thought they could cram him through waivers without a claim and have him be a stud in Belleville.

Thomson had a career-high 33 points in 56 AHL games last year, second on the team among defenceman. In the face of a fourth straight season in the AHL, Thomson probably welcomes the chance to go where he might still have a chance at being a regular NHL'er. 

Even if he doesn't, and it's another year in the AHL, San Diego's winter weather is considerably kinder than Belleville's.