With the regular season a little over a week away, the Habs trimmed down their roster by seven players on Tuesday, sending four to Laval and placing three others on waivers.
The four players that were sent directly to Laval were:
F Filip Mesar
D Mattias Norlinder
G Kevin Poulin
F Xavier Simoneau
None of the above should come as much surprise. Norlinder was the one player coming into camp that appeared to have a shot at making the roster but he struggled in the preseason which took that option off the table. Poulin and Simoneau are on AHL deals while Mesar could still be sent to Kitchener of the OHL but it appears he’ll get evaluated with the Rocket first.
Meanwhile, the three players on waivers are:
F Alex Belzile
F Anthony Richard
F Mitchell Stephens
Belzile and Richard have both cleared waivers in the past and there’s little reason to think they won’t do so again. Stephens, however, isn’t so certain. He was Detroit’s fourth-line centre when healthy last season and this is his first time on the wire. With teams more or less letting players go unclaimed so far, there’s a good chance he’ll sneak through but it’s at least worth noting that there’s a possibility a team might want to take a look.
There are still 37 players left in camp and while injuries will allow Montreal to technically carry more than 23 to start the season, there are still a lot of cuts that need to be made over the coming days. Speculatively, a few of those will be made following Tuesday’s game against Ottawa.