The Anaheim Ducks have waived goaltender Anton Khudobin, according to multiple reports on Monday.
Khudobin has become the odd-man out after illness required the recall of John Gibson from the AHL. Gibson has performed admirably since his recall, making it difficult for the team to send him and his .934 save percentage back to the American League.
Khudobin always appeared to be a stop-gap for the team, bridging a year where Gibson could spend the majority of the season in the AHL getting a lot of starts while Frederik Andersen carried the majority of the workload in the NHL. But the success of Gibson and Andersen, combined with their age, that Gibson is locked up for the next four seasons and that Andersen will be a RFA at the end of the season, makes Khudobin and his $2.25 million cap hit expendable.
However, with the goalie issues that have happened in recent seasons for the Ducks, they may be glad to have Khudobin in the AHL as a possible recall. They have around $7.8 million in cap space open, so in terms of the cap, they don’t need him to be claimed.
Anaheim acquired Khudobin from Carolina in the summer for defenseman James Wisniewski, who never clicked in Anaheim.
This season, Khudobin has grabbed eight games for the Ducks, posting a .908 save percentage. There is certainly reason to believe that another team will be interested in his services.
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