The Habs were able to get Gustav Lindstrom through waivers in training camp but they didn’t have that same success the second time around as on Wednesday, Anaheim claimed the blueliner off waivers from Montreal.
Lindstrom was acquired over the summer from Detroit as part of the Jeff Petry deal to give the Canadiens a bit more right-shot depth on the back end. But with Justin Barron cracking the roster as the seventh defender, Lindstrom wound up on waivers back in October.
The 25-year-old wound up only playing in four games back with Laval before being recalled when the injury bug bit in early November. He actually saw regular action for the better part of a month, getting into 14 games where he had a career-high three goals along with an assist while averaging 15:17 per night, close to his average in his days with the Red Wings.
But when players started returning, Lindstrom slid to the eighth spot on the blueline depth chart, certainly not an ideal place to be. The emergence of Jayden Struble as a capable defender certainly didn’t help in that regard. As a result, he last suited up back on December 9th and with Rafael Harvey-Pinard expected off IR shortly, the roster spot was soon going to be needed.
The Ducks will pick up the remainder of Lindstrom’s $950,000 contract with no lingering cap charge to Montreal. Notably, this drops their contract count to 45 out of the limit of 50 which might give them some flexibility to work with on that front over the coming weeks.