When a Tampa Bay fritters away a Mark Barberio or a Matthew Peca, I understand their situation. They have had a succession of good draft years, a few shrewd free-agent acquisitions like Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde. At some point, they get squeezed, they can't hoard all these players and prospects, all that talent, due to considerations like the expansion draft(s), the waiver rules, the 50-contract limit. So they slough off talent by necessity, they trade away a Jonathan Drouin, they lose a Jonathan Marchessault to free agency.
The Canadiens are nowhere near this point, organizationally. They should be stockpiling and transmuting assets, not risking them on waivers, not when they have other options, in a 'reset' year.
Yet the Canadiens recently have lost Mike Condon, Mark Barberio and Brandon Davidson on waivers, assets that could have reaped draft picks, or returned prospects who aren't as far along their development curve, who can still be stashed in the AHL, hidden from waivers. It was galling to see on Canadiens online forums some posters dismissing Brandon Davidson as a player who couldn't help us, who was no big deal or no big loss when he was claimed by Edmonton, and then see him reap the Oilers a third-round pick from the Islanders a mere two months later. "That shoulda been ours!" I wailed dejectedly.
We do this constantly. We'll spend low or mid-round picks on Steve Otts and Brian Flynns, but then find ourselves squeezed by our own contract and roster limits, and allow the Gabriel Dumonts and Michaël Bournivals to walk away in free agency.
I argue that the better alternative would be to proactively trade away a Tomas Plekanec, reap the bounty he'd command from a team starving for an accomplished NHL centre, and promote a Gabriel Dumont in his stead, even if he's only 80% of the player Tomas is. You prop up your own young players, your farmhands, build them up, and then trade them away too. You backfill in your roster by your own kids, who get pushed out a couple of years later by more young kids who are coming out of the woodwork, due to your diligent asset accumulation and cultivation.
And this is how I see Jacob de la Rose fitting into this. Jacob is no bluechip prospect, not anymore. The promise that was seen in his World Junior appearances, the tantalizing size and skating and physical gifts are belied by an absence of offence, of point production. But that was always the book on Jacob, that he was a smart responsible player who could be trusted by a coach, but whose offence you had to project, you hoped would come around to a decent level.
Jacob has been waiver-eligible since last season, and he spent the entire year in Montréal, appearing in 55 games and picking up 12 points, being a healthy-scratch often, not flashing much. As the season progressed, you started to see a hint of development, which is how his previous season in the AHL had gone. So you held on to him and you hoped, but I guess Canadiens management now figures, with the numbers crunch and players about to come off Injury Reserve, that waiving him is the least bad option there is.
For the record, I'll disagree. I estimate there's a 40% chance that he gets claimed on waivers, and that's too high a risk on too valuable an asset for us to take.
We have one forward on the roster right now who's waiver-exempt, who's not producing, and who's at great risk to his health and development while being eased in to the NHL, and I'm speaking of course about crown jewel Jesperi Kotkaniemi. In a reset year, when the Canadiens are not expected to compete for a Cup, and when the kid has demonstrated that he's not going to be a major piece this season, we should fold our hand and wait for the next deal in 2019. Especially in the wake of the assault suffered by another slender teenaged rookie, Elias Petterson.
Marc Bergevin famously said that you often regret bringing up a player to the NHL too soon, but you seldom regret bringing them up 'too late'. This is where he should put his money where his mouth is. Send the kid down to Laval so he can at least play more minutes, more Top 6 roles. Or, send him back to Finland with a pat on the shoulder, as you do with every new draftee who's garnered one assist in five games to start his NHL career. "Great job, kid. Good hustle, good effort, keep up the good work, we'll see you at the World Juniors in Vancouver."
I'd also argue that a Matthew Peca, with his two-year one-way contract at $1.3M per is also more waiver-immune, a less attractive target than Jacob, and should have been waived instead. Now I'll admit there might be some assurances that were proffered to Mr. Peca to get him to sign here on July 1, and maybe there was a verbal undertaking not to send him to the AHL. Maybe the Canadiens sense that it's the other way around, that Matthew would be snapped up for sure, but that Jacob can still sneak through, but I have a hard time believing that.
Claude Julien expressed that hope, and stated that the Canadiens haven't given up on Jacob.
«Il fallait choisir quelqu'un. On n'a pas le choix, a rappelé Claude Julien. La semaine dernière, j'ai dit qu'on aurait des décisions difficiles à prendre. C'est la décision que l'on a prise. De notre côté, on espère ne pas le perdre parce qu'on croit encore en lui. Mais on n'a pas le choix quand on ne peut garder que 23 joueurs dans notre alignement. On va voir ce qui va se passer.»
("We hope not to lose him on waivers because we believe in him. But we had no choice, we can only keep 23 players on our roster. We'll see what happens.")Fingers crossed, we can only hope that the Canadiens get lucky and squeak him through. If that happens, I'll be very happy, and interested to see what he can bring to the Rocket lineup, under the fiery leadership of Joël Bouchard. It'll sell tickets in Laval, improve the fortunes of the club, create that winning atmosphere that has been so lacking in our farm team for so many years. And maybe a season or so at that level, with added responsibility, is the right environment in which Jacob de la Rose can finally, er, blossom.
UPDATE:
DET claims de la Rose
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