Claimed off Waivers: [ARI] Coyotes claim Eric Comrie from Jets

[Name Nameless]

Arizona will have to trade or cut a goalie. Despite Comrie's pedigree, there might not be a huge market for him in a trade. Most teams have two goalies who they are invested in. If Arizona waives Comrie again and Winnipeg is the only team to put a claim in on him, the Jets would get him back and be able to assign him to the AHL.

Ari has 13 forwards, 7 defencemen and three goalies.

Capfriendly is still including Sõderstrõm. He is on his way home to Sweden, he'll be back next year.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Ari has 13 forwards, 7 defencemen and three goalies.

Capfriendly is still including Sõderstrõm. He is on his way home to Sweden, he'll be back next year.

What I was getting at is that it is uncommon for a team to carry three goalies long term, not that they wouldn't be compliant with the 23 player roster limit.

I would be surprised if they traded Raanta or Kuemper, and I would be surprised if they carried three goalies long term. This seems like a quick fix with Raanta out. If they get lucky and another team has an injured goalie when Arizona is needing to move on from Comrie, they might be able to get a pick for him. Otherwise, he probably ends up back on waivers eventually.

 

[LakeLivin]

Kinda surprised they didn't take Forsberg instead. Comrie has all of 5 NHL games and a lifetime AHL save% of .910. Forsberg weighs in with 45 NHL games and an AHL save% of .922. Comrie is almost 3 years younger but Forsberg is 2" taller.

Of course, those are all just numbers on paper. Beyond the stats I can't say I'm very familiar with either other than that Forsberg looked pretty good through the Canes preseason. Glad he cleared waivers, wouldn't shock me if he ended up as the Canes backup this season rather than Reimer.

 

[Hunter368]

Nice kid, good luck Comrie.

 

[ShelbyZ]

What I was getting at is that it is uncommon for a team to carry three goalies long term, not that they wouldn't be compliant with the 23 player roster limit.

I would be surprised if they traded Raanta or Kuemper, and I would be surprised if they carried three goalies long term. This seems like a quick fix with Raanta out. If they get lucky and another team has an injured goalie when Arizona is needing to move on from Comrie, they might be able to get a pick for him. Otherwise, he probably ends up back on waivers eventually.

One odd possibility is that they're merely "borrowing" him from the Jets?

I can't find the article anymore, but exactly 20 years ago the Canucks had started 99-00 with a bunch of injuries in goal and were at the very bottom of the claim order. The Red Wings were high on Legace, but needed him to pass waivers. Burke and Holland worked out something where the Canucks would claim Legace so he could back up Weekes for a few days, then they'd re-waive him and Detroit would claim him and thus be able to send him directly to the AHL. The whole thing went through exactly that way.

I guess that's a possibility for Comrie, but it seems a little off since the Coyotes could just keep another goalie they already own up to back up Kuemper and not have to pay the waiver fee and another salary.

My guess is something is going on with Hill where they'll need another AHL goalie and they're pretty certain Comrie will clear? Or maybe they knew other teams were interested but wanted to try to get him for nothing on waivers instead of trading something to the Jets, and now Chayka thinks he can get something for him from one of those teams?

Another odd twist to this whole thing is Comrie's contract. It's two-way this season and one-way next year. I would think if they were looking for someone to sit on the bench for a few games while Raanta is banged up, wouldn't they go for someone with less future investment like say Gillies/Coreau/Gibson?

 

[XX]

My guess is something is going on with Hill

He stopped practicing and there were some abrupt answers from Tocchet when asked about it . Possible Hill wants out, seeing as how Prosvetov is the new hotness in town. Hill played well enough in the preseason that another team would surely want him. Comrie is small enough potatoes that Winnipeg likely agreed to just give him up on a waiver claim and won't attempt to get him back, giving Tucson a solid goalie.

The Coyotes are planning on adding a D per reports, internal or external isn't known yet, but they're waiting on the LTIR money which doesn't take effect until tomorrow. They've already made the necessary paper transactions.

Raanta is also not in game shape so it's possible Comrie is just a Pickard style body for a few weeks.

Kinda surprised they didn't take Forsberg instead. Comrie has all of 5 NHL games and a lifetime AHL save% of .910. Forsberg weighs in with 45 NHL games and an AHL save% of .922. Comrie is almost 3 years younger but Forsberg is 2" taller.

Of course, those are all just numbers on paper. Beyond the stats I can't say I'm very familiar with either other than that Forsberg looked pretty good through the Canes preseason. Glad he cleared waivers, wouldn't shock me if he ended up as the Canes backup this season rather than Reimer.

There being better options on the wire (notably DeSmith) leads me to believe this is just a warm body situation, but there's a weird amount of smoke around Hill right now.

 

[_Del_]

For those interested, this cost Arizona $15,000, paid to Winnipeg and not counted against the cap.

New ownership is paying off already!