HabsWorld.net --
Montreal made a pair of roster moves before their game tonight in Pittsburgh. First, they claimed centre Colin White off waivers from the Penguins. Brandon Gignac was placed on waivers in a corresponding move and will be have to be designated to non-roster status to open up an immediate spot for White.
There was a time when White was viewed as a key piece of the future plans in Ottawa when he put up a 41-point season in 2018-19 when he was a client of Canadiens GM Kent Hughes. However, injuries and general ineffectiveness resulted in him being bought out in 2022, meaning the Sens will be paying him $875,000 through the 2028-29 season.
Since then, White spent time with Florida last season when he was a regular on the fourth line in their run to the Stanley Cup Final. However, he was unable to secure a one-way deal in the summer, eventually settling for a two-way deal with the Penguins.
The 27-year-old has split the year between Pittsburgh and their affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In the minors, White has five goals and five assists in 21 games while he has been held off the scoresheet in 11 NHL contests. For his career, White has 44 goals and 69 assists in 303 games.
As for Gignac, the Habs recently converted his AHL deal to an NHL two-year contract a little less than three weeks ago. He got into seven games with the Habs, picking up his first career goal and generally held his own in his first NHL action since 2018-19. Meanwhile, the 26-year-old has been quite productive with Laval, recording 42 points in 43 games.
On the surface, this feels like a move that was made more for the Rocket than it was for the Canadiens. Going from Gignac to White isn’t an upgrade, especially with the way Montreal’s fourth line is used as an energy player is more serviceable. However, if Gignac clears waivers and is returned to Laval, the Rocket would get their top forward back for their playoff push.
With White’s claim, Montreal is now up to 46 contracts out of the maximum of 50. It’s likely that Lane Hutson will sign and burn a year late this season and quite possible that Luke Tuch also goes that route (otherwise, he doesn’t have much incentive not to test free agency in August). Additionally, if David Reinbacher comes to North America after his season in Switzerland ends and gets a look with the big club, he’s subject to the nine-game restriction or he’d burn the first year of his deal as well. Long story short, it would be surprising to see any more additions to Montreal’s roster that doesn’t also involve a player going out.
