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The midseason waiver claim of Logan Shaw was a bit of a headscratcher but after a couple of months with the team, has he done enough to land himself a qualifying offer in June?
2017-18
Shaw held down a regular role with Anaheim through the first half of the season but eventually fell victim to a numbers game and landed on waivers. The Habs decided to pick him up and while it took a bit of time, he worked his way into a regular role with them down the stretch as well.
No one is going to confuse Shaw with a goal scorer but he was able to give the fourth line a bit more grit and some positional versatility having shifted to centre in the final few games of the season. He also spent some time on the penalty kill although he didn’t have too much success there (something that could be said for a lot of that unit, however). Shaw didn’t necessarily play well enough to guarantee himself another contract but he didn’t play his way out of one either.
Season Stats
Anaheim: 42 GP, 2-6-8, -1 rating, 4 PIMS, 59 shots
Montreal: 30 GP, 2-4-6, -5 rating, 8 PIMS, 46 shots
Argument To Qualify
Montreal’s fourth line hasn’t been the grittiest in recent years and as a result, Marc Bergevin has made several moves over the years to try to rectify that. Shaw gives them that element so why not keep him around instead of making another in-season trade/claim to fill that hole?
His positional versatility is an asset, especially given the lack of depth they currently have down the middle. Shaw is a safe player that won’t make too many glaring mistakes and we know that Claude Julien likes safe players so that’s certainly in his favour. He’s due a qualifying offer of $715,000 which is by no means a cap-crippler and with the injuries to Paul Byron and Andrew Shaw to start the season, they’re going to need that extra depth.
Argument To Cut
Is there really one discernible skill that he brings to the table? Maybe his physicality? They already have some players where that’s their best skill; they don’t really necessarily need more of them.
Talent is an issue for this team so carrying another player who doesn’t have a lot of it isn’t an ideal solution. There will be plenty of other depth forwards that get non-tendered and odds are, some will have more raw talent than Shaw so shouldn’t those last spots on the roster/contract slots be used for someone that might be able to make more of an impact?
Prediction
Shaw’s tenure with the Habs has been ‘meh’ at best but I think there is a spot for him in the organization next season. He won’t cost much more than the qualifying offer and he’s serviceable in the NHL. I could see him sticking in a 13th/14th forward role (basically, what Byron Froese’s role should have been), especially at the beginning of the year with the injuries. If not, he’s someone that they should be comfortable running through waivers and if he was to clear, he’d give Laval some extra depth while being a recall candidate. That’s nothing to get excited about but it should be enough for a qualifying offer.
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