UPDATE: The Vegas Golden Knights have claimed Amadio. The 4-4 Knights are 4th in the Pacific division, and 17th in the NHL. They have five players injured right now and can use some NHL depth.

Original story:

The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed Michael Amadio on waivers today. The 25-year-old has played three games for the Leafs this year. For comparison because I know everyone wants it, Adam Brooks has played one for the Habs and has been a scratch ever since his (surprisingly decent?) debut.

My first question regarding this move is: why? Let’s try and answer that.

There are no immediate changes that have triggered this move. Petr Mrazek was never on LTIR and his return doesn’t change the cap usage. Michael Hutchinson was on the roster for free (literally $0) because he was an emergency recall, so him going back now that Mrazek is healthy doesn’t change the cap either.

Ilya Mikheyev is still on LTIR, but we haven’t seen him skating and his eight-week recovery from Oct 11th is only in week 2.5.

This could be a preemptive strike. Maybe something is happening to Justin Holl and they need another defenseman. Alex Biega just got suspended by the AHL for two games after his antics last night, but that wouldn’t stop him playing in the NHL (Zac Rinaldo has played in the NHL while being under suspension from the AHL multiple times). Perhaps they are interested in calling up Kirill Semyonov, who has been outstanding for the Marlies. Maybe an NHL contract is in the works for Josh Ho-Sang, who has also been stellar.

Whatever the reason is, we’ll know whether Amadio cleared or not by tomorrow at 2pm.