Friday: Dauphin has cleared waivers, and according to Craig Morgan of The Athletic will be assigned to the AHL.
Thursday: The Arizona Coyotes have placed forward Laurent Dauphin on waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Derek Grant, Matt Taormina and Jan Kovar have all cleared from yesterday. Kovar will now see his contract terminated, while Grant and Taormina have already been assigned to the AHL.
In Dauphin’s case, it’s simply the case of a prospect not panning out to this point. The 23-year old forward was selected 39th overall in 2013 but has suited up in just 34 NHL games to date and recorded just four points. Expected to be a two-way center for the team when he was selected out of the QMJHL, he hasn’t even been able to produce a ton of offense at the minor league level.
A team may decide to take a chance on him though, given his draft pedigree, relative youth and NHL experience, slim as it is. Teams who still believe in him as a center prospect could take a chance and add him as a thirteenth forward, or try to sneak him through waivers themselves in a few days. The Coyotes have several players who will be coming off injured reserve in the coming days and weeks, and will need some additional roster spots to fit them all in. Dauphin is simply caught in a numbers game at this point, and hasn’t performed well enough to keep up over some contributing forwards.
Go get him Stan!