The Winnipeg Jets have placed forward Dominic Toninato on waivers, according to CapFriendly. Toninato was recalled in response to Kyle Connor’s placement on injured reserve. He did not dress for the Jets’ 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings yesterday, and now appears to be slated for a return to the AHL.
This is not the first time Toninato has found himself on waivers, although he has not been claimed before in his career. He last cleared waivers on October 2nd, and since he has been on the Jets’ roster for 30 cumulative days since then, he’ll need to go through waivers again.
The 29-year-old pivot is a veteran of 169 career NHL games and occupies a role as a depth center capable of handling bottom-six minutes in the NHL and top-six minutes in the AHL.
So far this season, Toninato has played entirely at the AHL level. He has six points in nine games for the Manitoba Mose so far this year, though he has spent time in the NHL press box as a healthy scratch as well.
It’s possible a team in desperate need of an experienced center could put in a claim for Toninato, seeing as he did play in 77 NHL games as recently as 2021-22. But that outcome appears unlikely, especially considering Toninato’s career 42.9% mark on draws means he doesn’t have appeal as a faceoff specialist at the very least.
Unless the Jets are trying to unload Toninato, this seems like an unnecessary risk they took by bringing him up and not even playing him.