Montreal Canadiens Win Gamble As Rem Pitlick Clears Waivers

MONTREAL– Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes won his gamble, as Rem Pitlick cleared waivers earlier today.

It was the third time Rem Pitlick was placed on waivers in his young career.

The team that drafted him, the Nashville Predators, originally placed him on waivers in October of last season, where he was immediately claimed by the Minnesota Wild.

The Wild then followed suit, placing Pitlick on waivers January, which allowed the Canadiens to claim the Ottawa native.

Dylan Wells (CHI) and Rem Pitlick (MTL) clear waivers.

No one new placed on the wire today.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) November 8, 2022

Pitlick, who has spent several games as a healthy scratch, is yet to find the scoresheet this season in 7 games, though it is worth mentioning he did enjoy a relatively successful season with the Canadiens in 2021-22, when he scored 9 goals and 17 assists in 47 games.

His underlying numbers have been nothing short of underwhelming, though his sporadic usage was not conducive to generating reliable underlying statistics.

Pitlick clearing waivers will help the Canadiens alleviate their current logjam among forwards, as well as gain extra cap space since he is no longer on the active roster for the Montreal Canadiens

NHL teams can bury up to $1.125 million in cap hits in the minors, which means Rem Pitlick’s AAV will not count against the Canadiens’ salary cap. This means the Canadiens now dispose of over $3.6M in cap space moving forward, allowing them much more flexibility in case of a trade down the line.

He may return to the NHL sooner than later, but in the meantime, the Montreal Canadiens have assigned Pitlick to the AHL. He could be a useful asset for the Laval Rocket, seeing as they’ve struggled to establish an identity in the early part of the season.

That being said, the moment there’s an injury to a forward, he’ll surely be one of the first call up Kent Hughes  will look to.

Les Canadiens ont cédé Rem Pitlick au Rocket de Laval.

The Canadiens have assigned Rem Pitlick to the Laval Rocket. #GoRocket pic.twitter.com/uVSxn83t3I

— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) November 8, 2022