Carson Soucy hit waivers Wednesday afternoon, and the Columbus Blue Jackets didn't bother dressing up the decision.
Elliotte Friedman broke the news in a two-line post. Ottawa's Cameron Crotty landed on the same list, so two clubs trimmed their defensive depth on the same day.
The numbers didn't leave Rick Bowness much room. Soucy has one assist through 7 games this season.
The recent stretch was worse. He went minus-6 over his last five games, which erased whatever cushion he built early.
He did not dress Tuesday night when Columbus scraped out a 4-3 overtime win in Philadelphia.
Dante Fabbro did, and it was his first game of the season. Less than a day later, the math on the Columbus back end caught up with the 32-year-old.
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Erik Gudbranson keeps his sweater despite a minus-7 start
Here's where it gets uncomfortable. Erik Gudbranson is minus-7 through 10 games, and he still logged 17:30 against the Flyers.
Waiving Soucy while Gudbranson keeps dressing is the wrong call. Bowness and Don Waddell stuck with the older, pricier option at a $1,750,000 cap hit.
Soucy carries $1,150,000. Waivers work like a yard sale where 31 neighbors get first look, and a cheap veteran defenseman is exactly the item somebody tosses in the trunk.
Columbus sits 5-5-0, and the blue line owns plenty of the blame for a -7 goal differential.
Want proof the top of the depth chart is holding up? Zachary Werenski played 28:09 Tuesday, and Denton Mateychuk scored in 21:19 of work.
The trouble lives further down the lineup. And two straight overtime wins haven't hidden it, with a road date in Carolina waiting Thursday.
Ottawa's timing is stranger. Crotty, 27, dressed for 3 games and didn't record a point.
Thomas Chabot is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and isn't expected back until at least Oct. 31.
So the Senators are thinning the back end while an $8,000,000 defenseman sits. Jorian Donovan and Hoyt Stanley are the other bodies on hand.
Jake Sanderson already carried 26:38 in Tuesday's 4-1 loss in Vegas, and the Senators open a California swing Thursday in Los Angeles.
If Soucy clears, Columbus keeps the player and the question. A claim would mean Waddell handed away a defenseman to protect a lineup call that's already wobbling.
Did the Blue Jackets waive the wrong defenseman?
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