While Blues goaltender Chad Johnson hit the waiver wire today, another veteran netminder could soon join him. Dave Isaac of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post suggests that Flyers goalie Michal Neuvirth could be waived once Brian Elliott returns from his groin injury which would pave the way for Anthony Stolarz to remain with the team.
Neuvirth has had a disastrous season thus far. He has missed most of it with multiple lower-body injuries and he has not fared well in his two appearances. Isaac notes that now-former GM Ron Hextall tried to trade the 30-year-old this summer but to no avail. Considering his start to the season, there isn’t likely to be any sort of market for Neuvirth’s services nor would it be ideal to keep him up so being waived appears to be a likely outcome at this point.
Elsewhere around the Metropolitan:
- Capitals winger T.J. Oshie participated in practice today and could receive the green light to return from his concussion on Tuesday, reports J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link). He has missed the last 11 games but a decision on his availability likely won’t be decided until closer to game time tomorrow as the team wants to assess how he feels on Tuesday first. His return would be a welcome one with the team currently without winger Tom Wilson (concussion); NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti notes (via Twitter) that the team hopes he can resume skating later this week.
- Penguins goalie Matt Murray is making significant progress in his recovery from his lower-body injury, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters, including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The team would like to get him some practice time but with the team playing eight times over the next two weeks, they’re only slated to practice once in that span. In the meantime, Casey DeSmith will remain as the number one starter in his absence and has fared quite well in that role thus far.
Cutting Neuvirth would be fantastic. The guy gets hurt when the wind blows too hard.