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Max Talbot
According to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports and Bob McKenzie of TSN, the Bruins placed forward Max Talbot and goaltender Jeremy Smith on waivers on Monday. If Talbot and Smith go unclaimed over the next 24 hours, they can be assigned to Providence.
While the writing was on the wall for Smith when the Bruins signed Jonas Gustavsson to be their backup goalie on Sunday, waiving Talbot comes as something of a surprise. The Bruins got the Avalanche to retain salary on Talbot when they traded for him last season, meaning the veteran fourth-liner only costs $900,000 against the cap. Still, the emergence of potential fourth-liners Joonas Kemppainen and Tyler Randell in training camp likely made Talbot expendable in the eyes of new general manager Don Sweeney.
By taking Talbot off the roster, however, some clarity is provided to the team’s fourth-line situation. With Boston’s third line set to consist of Ryan Spooner between Jimmy Hayes and Brett Connolly, the B’s were overflowing with fourth-line options, the vast majority of which were left shots in Chris Kelly, Kemppainen, Zac Rinaldo and Talbot. The right-shooting Randell could now push to see time as Boston’s fourth-line right wing, though a Kelly-Kemppainen-Rinaldo line also makes sense.
Either way, Talbot’s subtraction figures to lock in Boston’s 13 forwards to begin the season, with Kelly, Kemppainen, Rinaldo and Randell rounding out the group.
Smith, a second-round pick of the Predators in 2007, built a strong case to be Tuukka Rask‘s backup with a .933 save percentage in 39 games for Providence last season. Though he has yet to play an NHL game, he seemed a likely candidate to make Boston’s team after re-signing with Boston in the offseason on a one-year, two-way deal worth $600,000 at the NHL level. The Bruins already have Malcolm Subban and Zane McIntyre in Providence, so it will be interesting to see what the B’s do with Smith if he goes unclaimed.
Update (6:20 p.m.): In another minor roster move, Zdeno Chara is now listed as being on injured reserve. Given that players must be kept out for seven days after being put on IR, Chara’s potential status for Thursday’s season-opener is not impacted by this move. His placement on IR is likely retroactive to Sept. 24 (the day he suffered his upper-body injury), meaning the Bruins could activate him whenever they want.
