In a rather strange move on Friday, Canadiens D Ron Hainsey will indeed be joining the Hamilton Bulldogs, but he’s not taking the normal route to get there. Hamilton GM and Canadiens’ Assistant GM Andre Savard confirmed that Hainsey has signed a one-way AHL only contract effective immediately. This move means that Hainsey will be leaving the Montreal franchise of the OSHL, after notching a goal in his one and only game thus far.
Earlier this offseason, Hainsey signed a 2 year, $1.5 M contract with the Canadiens, but a one-way deal only. As a result, he would have to clear waivers to be assigned to Hamilton, a risk that Hab GM Bob Gainey would not be willing to take, especially after losing Francois Beauchemin on a similar gamble.
This past season, Hainsey made the team out of training camp, and posted a goal and an assist in 11 games, before heading to Hamilton for the remainder of the season. There, he recorded 7 goals and 24 assists in just 54 games. He will now further solidify a rather strong defensive corps in Hamilton, joining the likes of Mike Komisarek, Karl Dykhuis, Trevor Daley, Dan Jancevski, Phillipe Plante, and J-P Cote.
This addition leaves Hamilton’s training camp roster at 33 players. The camp itself begins with a practice on September 29th at 10:30 AM. The link at the end of this article contains the full camp roster.
In other news…Canadiens prospect Marcel Hossa, who also needs to be subjected to waivers in order to play for Hamilton, will not be following Hainsey’s lead. Instead, he will play at home in Slovakia this season…Canadiens captain Saku Koivu is reportedly heading to Sweden. A report from RDS has the Finnish centre heading to Sodertalje, assuming a contract agreement can be reached.