The Canadiens have a pair of waiver options to watch, and both come with a very different appeal.
When NHL waivers opened today, Michael Eyssimont of the Boston Bruins and Patrick Giles of the San Jose Sharks were both put on the wire, giving Montreal a chance to add either player without giving up a draft pick or a prospect.
Giles is the name that jumps off the page first. He’s a 6-foot-5, 220-pound right winger, the kind of frame that gets attention fast. The 26-year-old played his college hockey at Boston College and spent most of last season with the San Jose Barracuda in the American Hockey League, while appearing in only three games for the Sharks.
His NHL resume is still very small. Across 20 games with the Florida Panthers and Sharks, Giles has one goal and one assist.
Eyssimont brings a much different profile. The 30-year-old left-shot center was a fifth-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings in 2016 and already has 269 NHL games on his ledger.
He has 74 points in that span, and Boston is placing him on waivers with the season still barely underway. Any team that claims him would also be taking on his $1.45 million salary this season.
That leaves the Canadiens with a simple question: do they want the size and upside of Giles, or the experience of Eyssimont?
There’s also a little recent waiver history in the background. David Gustafson was placed on waivers yesterday and went unclaimed, and now it’s a matter of whether these two end up with the same result.
The news was reported by Elliotte Friedman.
The Carolina Hurricanes visit the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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