Winterton is the last one standing! To note, from Emerald City Hockey:
After waiving Hayden and Mahura, the Kraken roster is down to 21. They're still ~$49k over the cap.
They'll have to move someone or make one more cut (probably Winterton) by Tuesday.
by alienbanter
3 Comments
Starting the season with a 20 man roster, I bet. Good to get those guys through waivers while everyone else is still making decisions on their teams. If one of them is claimed they could still get a replacement on the waiver wire tomorrow or Monday.
I saw someone post this on Twitter, but this could just be to get them through waivers now to avoid risking losing them later in the season. I think once a player clears waivers they don’t have to go through it again to go between the NHL and AHL for 30 days or something.
You put them on waivers now when every team is trying to cut guys, hope they clear, and then you have 30 days to figure out a trade if you want to make one to free up cap space. I do think that only carrying a roster of 21 players is not sustainable long term as it severely restricts your flexibility if a player gets injured during warmups or is suddenly sick and you don’t have time to fly someone up from Coachella.
Winterton is still young enough to be waivers exempt so they can keep him on the roster until the official NHL roster deadline and then send him down worry-free. His contract alone puts them over the cap because it is not league minimum so I do think he will get sent down eventually.
Didn’t we just sign Mahura from the Panthers? 🤣