DeAngelo, Raanta highlight March 7 waivers as NHL Trade Deadline looms

As we get closer to the NHL trade deadline which is now just over 24 hours away, teams are frantically making moves to put themselves in the best position for the playoffs or the draft.

A total of eight players were placed on waivers today, including three from the Carolina Hurricanes who are creating space on their roster. Defenceman Tony DeAngelo, forward Brendan Lemieux, and goaltender Antti Raanta represent the Hurricanes on today’s waiver wire. Additionally, forward Boris Katchouk from the Chicago Blackhawks, goaltender Evan Cormier from the Florida Panthers were placed on waivers.

A trio of defensemen rounded out the group with William Lagesson from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tobias Bjornfot from the Vegas Golden Knights, and Jordan Oesterle from the Calgary Flames joining the list.

Raanta and DeAngelo are the most notable names on this list. They have each failed to reach their expectations for this season and find themselves expendable. Raanta has a 2.99 GAA and .872% save percentage through 24 games and hasn’t been the goalie he once was for the Hurricanes. DeAngelo hasn’t played much this year due to being the odd man out on the loaded Carolina defence and the team hopes someone else can take his contract off the books. He is a pending UFA and earns $1.675 million this year.

Bjornfot is another interesting name on this list as he’s missed most of the 2023-24 season with injuries. He finds himself on waivers for the second time this season as he was picked up by the Golden Knights on January 4th after being waived by the Los Angeles Kings. He was a regular bottom-pairing defenseman on the Kings during the 2021-22 season when he played 70 games for them but fell back into the AHL for most of the following year.

This season, Bjornfot has only played three games in the NHL, one with the Kings and two with the Golden Knights. He’s played nine AHL games with the Ontario Reign and five with the Henderson Silver Knights. He hasn’t recorded a single point in any of those games in either league. He could be a decent project for a team in need of defensive depth.