Maple Leafs have put William Lagesson on waivers in advance of the trade deadline

The Maple Leafs roster has begun getting a little more crowded. With Edmundson and Lyubushkin in and no one heading out, the Maple Leafs are needing to thin out their active roster. The first casualty of that is William Lagesson:

Waivers non-roster is a seldom used option as normally teams wait for the player to clear before making them remove them from the roster, but with the Leafs only having Pontus Holmberg (note: Holmberg now requires waivers) and Matthew Knies as waivers exempt options and a game tonight in Boston, the Leafs are going a different route.

The Leafs have also moved Conor Timmins to the LTIR retroactively despite the fact that he is very close to returning.

There had been some health concerns about Jake McCabe and whether he’d be available for the Leafs tonight, but it seems like Toronto is either willing to give him a go or they’ve rushed Joel Edmundson to Boston and want him in the lineup tonight.

As for William Lagesson, he is a useful depth defensive option and one that teams with an open roster spot might be excited to bring in. He’s either a convenient replacement option for teams like Arizona, Washington, Philadelphia, etc. that have lost a blueliner in the past few days or an option for a playoff team that would like to improve their defensive depth without giving up an asset. The Leafs might not be holding their breath, concerned over whether or not Lagesson is claimed, but there is a possibility of it happening.

Lagesson’s numbers from this season:

Lagesson had a lengthy stretch from December to February where he didn’t play. Only with the Rielly suspension did he find his way back into the lineup.

Tomorrow at 2pm ET is the last chance for players claimed off of waivers to be eligible for the playoffs if they find themselves on a new team, so we’ll see how things pan out for Lagesson.