{"id":192271,"date":"2025-10-05T22:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T22:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/192271\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T22:15:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T22:15:07","slug":"nhl-waiver-targets-the-8-biggest-names-available-after-final-roster-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/192271\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL waiver targets: The 8 biggest names available after final roster cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday is the deadline for\u00a0NHL\u00a0teams to submit their cap-compliant, opening-night rosters. Teams were forced to make their final cuts Sunday, which resulted in a massive dump of players, including some established\u00a0NHLers<\/a>, landing on waivers.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at some of the most intriguing players available on the wire.<\/p>\n

Ville Heinola, LHD, Winnipeg Jets<\/p>\n

Heinola has been on the bubble for Winnipeg the last few years. He\u2019s a very intelligent defenseman who can make a lot of difficult plays with the puck. He\u2019s undersized, though, and a bit of a wonky-looking skater, which is especially concerning with his frame. There aren\u2019t a lot of teams willing to gamble on smaller defenders, but Heinola is talented enough for someone to take a shot on him.<\/p>\n

Mikey DiPietro, G, Boston Bruins<\/p>\n

Has DiPietro done enough to finally earn an extended NHL opportunity somewhere? He has long been doubted because his 6-foot-1 frame is small by goaltending standards, but the 26-year-old has dominated at every level outside the NHL to this point. What he lacks in size, he makes up for with his intelligence, technical mastery and quickness\/athleticism.<\/p>\n

DiPietro backstopped the Windsor Spitfires to a Memorial Cup championship in 2017, which led to him being drafted No. 64 by the Canucks. He was named the OHL Goaltender of the Year the following year in 2017-18 and was Canada\u2019s starter at the 2019 World Junior Championships. Canada lost in the quarterfinal because of its weak offensive roster that year, but DiPietro was still one of the country\u2019s top performers, notching a .951 save percentage in the tournament.<\/p>\n

At 20, DiPietro turned pro and held his own as one of the AHL\u2019s youngest goaltenders, posting a .908 save percentage in 36 games. His development was stalled for a couple of years after that \u2014 he only got to play five games in 2021 because of the abbreviated AHL season, and he was forced to split time between the AHL and ECHL in 2021-22 because Vancouver was crowded with organizational goaltending depth.<\/p>\n

In Boston\u2019s organization, DiPietro has hit another level. DiPietro was awarded the AHL\u2019s Best Goaltender last season, after finishing with a .927 save percentage in 40 games. He\u2019s been waived because he\u2019s stuck behind Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo at the NHL level. DiPietro didn\u2019t look sharp in preseason, and he only has three games of NHL experience, so we\u2019ll see if those two factors, in addition to his size, could give potentially interested teams some pause.<\/p>\n

Mat\u011bj Bl\u00fcmel, RW, Boston Bruins<\/p>\n

Bl\u00fcmel led the AHL with 39 goals in 67 games last season as a 24-year-old for the Texas Stars. He had the kind of elite AHL statistical profile in his early 20s that suggests he could have NHL upside, but more importantly, he also plays a style of game that could translate well to the big leagues. Bl\u00fcmel isn\u2019t just a pure offensive scorer; he\u2019s well-developed defensively, has a heavy, strong frame and excels at winning puck battles, too.<\/p>\n

The Stars were exceptionally deep up front, so Bl\u00fcmel didn\u2019t get a prolonged NHL opportunity last year. It\u2019s a bit surprising that the Bruins cut him because he looked decent in preseason and arguably outperformed some of the club\u2019s other depth forwards.<\/p>\n

Mads Sogaard, G, Ottawa Senators<\/p>\n

Sogaard was once a top goalie prospect. The last few years have been marred by injuries and inconsistent performance at the pro level, but he\u2019s a huge goaltender who moves quite well for his size and has had strong stretches, albeit infrequent, of late. It wouldn\u2019t be a surprise if a team light on goalie depth took a stab at him to be its backup.<\/p>\n

Nico Daws, G, New Jersey Devils<\/p>\n

Daws is another goalie of interest. He\u2019s a good-sized goaltender with strong hockey sense and technical aspects, although his pure athleticism is nothing to be excited about. He could be a useful depth goalie option for a team.<\/p>\n

Arthur Kaliyev, LW\/RW, Ottawa Senators<\/p>\n

Kaliyev is a one-dimensional scoring winger with a rocket of a shot. He can beat goalies clean from a distance, which is a valuable skill, but the rest of his game can be frustrating. Kaliyev is a subpar skater, below-average defensively and has shown an inconsistent effort level. He profiles as a tweener: He isn\u2019t talented enough to stick in an NHL team\u2019s top six and doesn\u2019t have the foot speed, defensive acumen, forechecking or physicality that teams look for in a bottom-six contributor.<\/p>\n

However, Kaliyev is young enough that he could still be worth taking a chance on. Injuries hindered him this past season, but he scored 14 goals with the Kings as a 20-year-old rookie, and 13 goals and 28 points in 56 games as a 21-year-old sophomore in 2022-23. He can be a legit asset for a team\u2019s power play if someone is looking to add scoring.<\/p>\n

Erik Gustafsson, LHD, Detroit Red Wings<\/p>\n

Detroit signed Gustafsson in the 2024 offseason to serve as a budget-friendly replacement for the departing Shayne Gostisbehere. It seemed like a reasonable bet at the time \u2014 Gustafsson was coming off a productive year with the New York Rangers in 2023-24, and had scored 42 points in 70 games in 2022-23. Gustafsson had long been a skilled power-play quarterback, and while he was never the most reliable player defensively, his puck-moving ability still allowed him to drive strong underlying results in third-pair minutes.<\/p>\n

However, the fit last year in Detroit was a disaster.<\/p>\n

Gustafsson struggled to drive offense, slumping to 18 points in 60 games, and his defensive blunders added up. The 33-year-old\u2019s successful NHL track record before the down year should be intriguing to teams looking for some more offense\/puck-moving\/a secondary power-play option on the third pair, but his age and $2 million cap hit could deter teams from making a claim.<\/p>\n

Sammy Blais, LW, Montreal Canadiens<\/p>\n

Blais was once a highly coveted power forward viewed as having top-six NHL upside. He was, in fact, one of the main assets the Blues had to give up to acquire top-line forward Pavel Buchnevich. However, injuries severely hindered Blais\u2019 development. His offense became too inconsistent, and by the time the Canucks inked him to a PTO last fall, his foot speed didn\u2019t quite look NHL-caliber either.<\/p>\n

For the first time since he was a young prospect, Blais spent a full season in the AHL last year. To his credit, he fully seized the opportunity, emerging as one of the best players on the Calder Cup-winning Abbotsford Canucks. Blais looked like the Tom Wilson of the AHL; he was a near point-per-game offensive producer, a menacing wrecking ball physically and was noticeably every shift with his energy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be interesting to see if another team is prepared to give Blais another big-league chance on the back of that excellent AHL run. The 29-year-old has the kind of size, toughness and energy that teams often covet in fourth-liners, and he\u2019s been an effective, full-time NHL player in the past.<\/p>\n

Honorable mentions: Clay Stevenson, Cayden Primeau, Max Jones, Jack Studnicka, Calen Addison<\/p>\n

(Photo of Ville Heinola: James Carey Lauder \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monday is the deadline for\u00a0NHL\u00a0teams to submit their cap-compliant, opening-night rosters. Teams were forced to make their final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[1419,64,63,5789,6581,7525,3615,7520,7522,3936,7521,3064,3275,3274,7526,7524,5790,7523,7519,5791,3617,575,6597,3065,4785,7527,3066,85,3935,4788,2370,7528,2371,7529,4791,6000],"class_list":["post-192271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boston-bruins","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-calgary-flames","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-dallas-stars","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-florida-panthers","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nashville-predators","tag-new-jersey-devils","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-philadelphia-flyers","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-seattle-kraken","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-blues","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-utah-mammoth","tag-vancouver-canucks","tag-vegas-golden-knights","tag-washington-capitals","tag-winnipeg-jets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}