Claimed off Waivers: [MTL] Kale Clague claimed off waivers by the Canadiens from the Kings

[MarkovsKnee]

Are Belpedio, Ouellet and Fairbrother all injured?

Ouellet and Fairbrother are. They sent Schueneman back after Clague claim because Laval is severely short D too.

With Kulak back, Clague gives us 7D.

 

[Osprey]

Some fans have been hyping up and putting their hope in this kid since he was a teenager. It's always seemed to me, though, to be due more to the Kings' D pipeline being so shallow than Clague really being that good. He's had four years to secure a spot on that blueline and has been consistently beaten out, despite every single defenseman not named Doughty being traded or let go. So many spots have been available for him to grab in the last three years and he's lost out to players who have come almost out of nowhere. Now, there's no room left, other offensive defensemen (Clarke, Grans) are coming in the next year or two and he's 23. He still has a good chance to become a 5-6, but he ran out of opportunities with this organization and now gets a fresh set of them with a new one.

That said, I do agree that it was dumb to waive him over Maatta.

 

[PavelBrendl]

Free asset, offers some sorely needed puck moving ability on the back end. No-brainer for Montreal.

 

[McDrailers]

Is he better than Victor Mete ?

I’m better than Mete, so I’d assume Clague is.

 

[glenbuis]

Best part of the main forums is other fans telling LA fans what they're actually seeing

Durzi is not better. Durzi is more offense, but not even NHL caliber defense at this point. LA has plenty of prospects--but the VAST majority of them are RHD. In fact, the only even remotely close LHD la has in the system are Moverare (long shot, but just like the current LA LHD, vanilla two-way guys with average O and D), Nousiainen (not this year, probably not ever with LA due to size), Kirsanov (great, but not this year, and LA does awful things with Russians). Compare that with RHD where LA has Doughty, Roy, Walker, Strand at the ready then Clarke, Grans, Faber, Jordan Spence...and you'll see why it's annoying that LA was playing Clague at f***ing RHD with Maatta.

Maatta SHOULD be waived. That's exactly what I'm saying. It should easily be Clague > Wolanin > Maatta but Blake has it the opposite and instead of waiving the worthless vet he's waived the youngster that's performed and shown some upside. What the hell part of the rebuild does that happen in?

i wonder if there may be a trade with montreal for a LD prospect for a RD prospect. our left side is flooded similar to your right side . more or less for balancing purposes . Fabre or spence for harris maybe ?

 

[covfefe]

We all are today, we all are

it’ll come back man, best to not look down in times like these

 

[Bandit]

Why was he waived?

Rob Blake is a f***ing idiot

this.

 

[UED]

Very useless player so he will fit in very well with the rest of our group! Welcome!

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Damn, wish Hawks could have gotten him.

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

I understand the frustration. Why waive a young guy that’s shown some promise over Maata who has looked done for a couple of years and is a UFA to be?

 

[Legionnaire]

You suck Blake.

 

[kilowatt]

Clague is far from a sure thing at the NHL level. He's shown flashes of both great and awful play. The offensive upside is obvious and he was probably the second or third best offensive defenseman for LA (behind Durzi and Doughty).

I'm not incredibly disappointed to be moving on from Clague.

I am incredibly disappointed to be moving on from Clague with Olli Maatta still on the roster though. There is no world in which Maatta is better than Clague. Zero, zilch, nada.

So it's not solely losing the player that hurts, it's more the circumstances around the loss that are incredibly frustrating.

Yeah... I'll finally say it. Fire Blake, Luc, and Todd.

 

[JUSTGIROUXIT]

Followed Clague through Jr. Was surprised he didn't make LAs opening night roster this year, kid is due for a shot - Not a world beater but a SMART, heads-up dman who can make a great first pass. Those who critique his d - He is undersized, still young and hasn't had much of an opportunity to cement himself or grow confidence in the show. He should get a real opportunity in MTL, could see him fitting in well with some of the habs skilled core players. Happy for the guy, hope he does well.

 

[bleuetbio]

Thanks for all report made by LA kings fan. Its fully appreciated! It seems that we have found our new Victor Mete. Maybe it will works for us that time.

 

[abo9]

New Gm still diving in the Bargain Bin

but seriously he will be able to get a full time spot once Chariot is traded for picks in the coming weeks

Great Bargain Bin pickup though imo

23 years old LD with an offensive flair, who did well during his recent callup in LA.

the D in Montreal is wide open and spots are ripe for the taking. In addition, we have very little D youth close to the NHL ir NHL ready. If he manages to impress, that's great. Otherwise back to the waivers

 

[KingPuckChoo]

LA is 1-0 in the post-Clague era lol

 

[bmr]

Because those in charge have had some weird ass grudge against him for years, if you believe the smoke it's because he grumbled the first time he went down and ever since he was only called up when they absolutely HAD to even though he's performed head and shoulders above expectations every time.

In other words, utter incompetence at best, utter incompetence AND giant stupid egos at worst, and Blake and co need to be gone before they do more serious damage.

I'm thinking it has to be that. Otherwise why would you do this? It would be really nice to be a fly on the wall for some of these conversations with Kings management.

This is no way to run a franchise. Anyone worth their salt would have waived Maatta. No one would have picked him up and he gets a free ride down to Ontario. Unbelievable.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Played with 5D versus Florida. Lost 5-2, but Clague played the most minutes of anyone on our team. 27:34, and was even. Moved the puck well. So far, he's been a good waiver claim for us. Seems to be gaining confidence.

(Kulak was -4 today lol).

 

[FSL KINGS]

I'm thinking it has to be that. Otherwise why would you do this? It would be really nice to be a fly on the wall for some of these conversations with Kings management.

This is no way to run a franchise. Anyone worth their salt would have waived Maatta. No one would have picked him up and he gets a free ride down to Ontario. Unbelievable.

They like Vets. Got passed by Björnfot, Mikey Anderson & Durzi this year. Clarke & Kiril will be pushing him down the lineup in the near future. Clague missed his shot with the Kings. Hope it works out for him in MTL.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Played with 5D versus Florida. Lost 5-2, but Clague played the most minutes of anyone on our team. 27:34, and was even. Moved the puck well. So far, he's been a good waiver claim for us. Seems to be gaining confidence.

(Kulak was -4 today lol).

Love to hear it, and comes as no surprise to many of us. I guess that's exactly what waivers are for, can't just hold a guy hostage forever. Just thanking goodness he's in the other conference

I think the best games he played for us are when Walker and Roy went down and he played big minutes there. His skating and fitness sure helps in those games.

 

[Leafs87]

Safe to say MTL will pick up most NHL calibre players of waivers for the next little bit

 

[Captain97]

Safe to say MTL will pick up most NHL calibre players of waivers for the next little bit

I hope so, we literally have I think under 5 players that are eligible to be called up.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Love to hear it, and comes as no surprise to many of us. I guess that's exactly what waivers are for, can't just hold a guy hostage forever. Just thanking goodness he's in the other conference

I think the best games he played for us are when Walker and Roy went down and he played big minutes there. His skating and fitness sure helps in those games.

Yeah, well, we played with 5D tonight because every other D we have in Montreal and Laval are either injured or in covid protocol, so without him we'd be at 4D.

One thing is for sure he is much better on the right side than left. When he 1st started with us, he was on left and was kind of meh. But, since being moved to right side his game and confidence improved a lot.

 

[uncleben]

I hope so, we literally have I think under 5 players that are eligible to be called up.

Fairbrother on taxi, ready for callup
Dea and Ouellet in the AHL available for callup
Guhle, Mysak, and Xhekaj that could be called up from the juniors for <10 games without burning a contract year
And Norlinder who they literally just sent to Sweden, as per his own request.

 

[Captain97]

Fairbrother on taxi, ready for callup
Dea and Ouellet in the AHL available for callup
Guhle, Mysak, and Xhekaj that could be called up from the juniors for <10 games without burning a contract year
And Norlinder who they literally just sent to Sweden, as per his own request.

I wasn't counting Norlinder since he's in Sweden and didnt know Oullete was back from injury. He was out a little while. Even then Habs have 7 players available including emergency call ups for the Juniors. I hope they collect waiver players for a little.