- Detroit claims defenseman Andreas Englund off waivers from Calgary
- Nashville grabs William Trudeau, a Rangers prospect who has yet to play an NHL game
- Read below for the full list of 18 players who hit waivers Saturday
The waiver wire finally produced some real action Saturday, and it took less than a minute for both claims to land.
Detroit claimed defenseman Andreas Englund off waivers from Calgary. Seconds later, Nashville grabbed defenseman William Trudeau away from the New York Rangers. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed both moves within a minute of each other.
Here’s Friedman’s report:
Englund is the more established name of the two. The 30-year-old signed a one-year, two-way deal with Calgary on July 1 but only got into one preseason game before landing on waivers Friday.
He’s a physical, stay-at-home defenseman who has played 200 NHL games across five teams. Englund has two goals, 20 points and 190 penalty minutes over parts of eight seasons with Ottawa, Colorado, Chicago, Los Angeles and Nashville.
Detroit could use the extra depth on the back end while it continues to sort out restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson’s contract situation, with the regular season now less than two weeks away.
Trudeau is the longer-term project. The 23-year-old has never played an NHL game, but he racked up 90 points in 260 AHL games with the Laval Rocket since turning pro in 2022.
Montreal picked Trudeau in the fourth round of the 2021 draft. The Canadiens traded him to the Rangers on June 26, and New York signed him to a one-year, two-way deal just 10 days later. He barely got the chance to wear the jersey before Nashville snapped him up.
He’ll now compete for a bottom-pairing role in Nashville, likely behind Justin Barron, Adam Wilsby and Ryan Ufko on the depth chart.
Englund and Trudeau ended up as the only two players claimed off Friday’s massive 61-man waiver dump, which included Utah Mammoth forward Brandon Tanev. Everybody else cleared waivers and can now head to the minors.
A smaller batch of 18 players hit the wire Saturday. The Islanders led the way with five names, headlined by veteran forward Pierre Engvall, while Boston winger Lukas Reichel and Columbus forward Miles Wood also became available.
- Boston Bruins: Lukas Reichel, Alex Steeves
- Calgary Flames: Alex Nylander
- Columbus Blue Jackets: Miles Wood
- Dallas Stars: Remi Poirier
- Florida Panthers: Tobias Bjornfot, Angus Crookshank, Casey Fitzgerald
- Los Angeles Kings: Scott Perunovich, Taylor Ward
- New York Islanders: Mitchell Chaffee, Pierre Engvall, Liam Foudy, Daylan Kuefler, Matt Luff
- Pittsburgh Penguins: Caleb Jones
- Washington Capitals: Justin Holl
Teams have until Monday’s 4 p.m. CT deadline to get their opening-night rosters compliant, so more moves are coming before puck drop.
