The Colorado Avalanche have waived defenseman Nate Guenin for the second time in 2016, reports TVA’s Renaud Lavoie.
Guenin was waived back on January 13 as well, and was not claimed. There are a couple of things at work here for Colorado, who is currently sitting in a wild card spot.
Guenin has been passed up on the team’s depth chart by Chris Bigras and Andrew Bodnarchuk, who the team claimed off waivers earlier in the season.
The team is limited in their ability make moves at the trade deadline or on waivers because they’re at the maximum of 50 contracts, which would also limit their ability to be active with any college or major junior free agents before the end of the season.
However, the likelihood of Guenin being claimed would appear to be minimal. He hits waivers in the same week that Christian Ehrhoff cleared waivers. Ehrhoff has had a better season than Guenin and would appear to be more of a catch than Guenin. In fact, Ehrhoff may have made sense as a claim for Colorado if they were able to make any claims right now.
Waiving Guenin again now may also be about giving the team some roster flexibility. By waiving Guenin they get a 30-day window during which they would not need to waive him to move him to the AHL. By passing him through waivers twice they’ve maintained his ability to be sent down at moment’s notice for up to a two-month period.
The 33-year-old defenseman has played 29 games this season without posting a single point.
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Dustin Nelson is the News Editor for The Hockey Writers. He’s a contributor to Hockey Prospectus, Hockey Wilderness, and writes a column for Rotowire. He’s also written for Gone Puck Wild, Wild Xtra, InDigest, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Tiny Mix Tapes, Prefix Magazine & other publications. Have a tip? Email him at dlukenelson[at]gmail[dot]com.
