The Ottawa Senators waived Cameron Crotty, and by Thursday morning the Toronto Maple Leafs were already part of the conversation.
Bruce Garrioch reported the move comes down to roster space, with Ottawa likely needing to recall a forward. Then came the twist. A league executive wondered aloud if the Leafs would claim him.
On paper, Crotty's case is thin. The 27-year-old has dressed for 3 games this season, with no points and a +1 rating.
His cap hit sits at $812,500. Nobody in either front office is losing sleep over that number.
Timing matters here. The Senators open a California swing tonight in Los Angeles at 8-5-0, coming off a 4-1 loss in Vegas on Tuesday.
Garrioch also flagged that Ottawa could have every defenceman available against the Kings for the first time this season. The injury report still lists Thomas Chabot as day-to-day with an upper-body issue.
So which version shows up at puck drop? Andrew Campbell's lineup will tell us whether the waiver call looks smart or rushed.
Chris Tanev and Marshall Rifai injuries open a door in Toronto
The Leafs have two defencemen on injured reserve. Tanev is out with an upper-body injury, Rifai with a lower-body injury, and both are expected out until at least Oct 31.
The healthy defencemen left on Toronto's roster are Morgan Rielly, Darren Raddysh, Jake McCabe, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Troy Stecher and Dakota Mermis.
Ekman-Larsson is 35 and sits at a -4 rating. Mermis, 32, carries the identical cap hit Crotty does, and he's five years older.
And Toronto keeps leaking goals. The Leafs have allowed 51 through 15 games.
It's showing up in the standings, too. They dropped a 5-4 game in Seattle last night, their second straight loss on a western road trip that hits Vancouver on Saturday.
Claiming a depth defenceman is like buying a spare tire at a gas station halfway through a road trip. Nobody brags about it. You're just grateful the moment something goes flat.
If Toronto passes, that's a mistake. A team giving up goals at this rate can't afford to be picky about a cheap, available body for the blue line.
Sergei Bobrovsky's .885 save percentage across 10 appearances isn't hiding many mistakes in front of him either.
There's a rivalry wrinkle as well. Ottawa won the only meeting so far, 3-2 in Toronto on Oct 3, and the two clubs don't meet again until Jan 20 in Ottawa.
If nobody claims him, he stays a recall away for Steve Staios. If the Leafs do, Ottawa will hear about it every time that Toronto blue line holds.
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Should the Maple Leafs claim Cameron Crotty off waivers?
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