Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas discussed the Red Wings’ decision to place Ville Husso on waivers in the latest edition of the “32 Thoughts” podcast (at the 26-minute mark thereof).
Friedman says that he was very surprised to see Husso’s name pop up on the waiver wire, comparing it to the Kings placing Mike Richards or Sharks placing Evander Kane on waivers. Friedman says that there’s a cap reason for it because the Wings need to recall a player to replace Christian Fischer, and the Wings have Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon, the “bailout king” of goaltenders, but he feels that this sends a thunderbolt through the dressing room because, whether it’s for roster reasons or not, it makes everyone stand up and take notice.
As such, Friedman believes that Steve Yzerman wanted to let the team know that there are “no sacred cows” on the team, and he feels that Husso’s performance was not that bad against Pittsburgh, but Yzerman sent a message nonetheless, and while Husso won’t get claimed, and coach Lalonde has said the team will go through a three-goaltender system, this sends a message to the team and fans that Yzerman is not joking around this season.
Friedman says that while Yzerman has been quoted as saying that the team is not a playoff team yet, and he wonders whether that took the foot off the gas, and maybe this is a message that Yzerman wants better performances than he saw on opening night, and that Yzerman does things for a reason.
