Oct. 11, 1:03 p.m.: All three players have cleared waivers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Oct. 10, 1:45 p.m.: Although not as busy as the past few days, there’s still some activity on the waiver wire today. The lone player on waivers yesterday, New York Islanders forward Ross Johnston, was claimed today by the Anaheim Ducks.
Los Angeles Kings
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
The most notable name here is Rittich, a 31-year-old Czech netminder who has 172 games of NHL experience. Though the number of clubs rostering three goalies to start the season might point to a heightened risk of goaltenders getting claimed off of waivers, the fact that Martin Jones, who played in 48 games last season, cleared waivers does bode well for the Kings’ likelihood of passing Rittich through.
Rittich is playing on a one-year, $875k contract and is set to be the Kings’ third goalie behind Pheonix Copley and Cam Talbot. Last season, Rittich was Connor Hellebuyck’s backup and went 9-8-1 with a .901 save percentage and 2.67 goals against average.
Gone are the days when Rittich was a borderline starter-level netminder as he was with the Calgary Flames, and although public expected goals models were down on his work last season, there could be NHL teams in need of goalies who believe he still has something to offer at the game’s highest level.
Barré-Boulet, 26, is an undersized, undrafted former QMJHL star who has become a top player in the AHL for the Syracuse Crunch. He made the AHL’s First All-Star team last season after scoring 84 points last season, by far a team lead, but so far hasn’t been able to translate that success to the NHL level.
The final player on the waiver wire today is McMann, an undrafted forward from the Maple Leafs. The Colgate University product worked his way up from the ECHL to the NHL and was impressive at the AHL level last season, scoring 21 goals in just 30 games.
The energetic winger isn’t exactly the prototypical player that gets claimed off of waivers but perhaps there is a team is intrigued enough by his minor-league goal-scoring and endearing style to put in a claim.