Bruins make another roster move off NHL roster
The Bruins continued to shake things up with their NHL roster Thursday, this time with another move up front that’s come with Tyler Johnson placed on unconditional waivers.
With this being unconditional waivers opposed to ‘normal’ waivers, the end goal of the move here will be to terminate Johnson’s contract opposed to simply sending him down to AHL Providence if unclaimed.
Signed by the club back on Nov. 4 after hanging around and waiting out a deal following a successful preseason run on a pro tryout agreement with the club, the 34-year-old Johnson appeared in nine games for the Bruins this season, with two assists and six shots on goal.
Johnson struggled to build off that aforementioned preseason push, though, and was a healthy scratch in nine of 13 games following the switch from Jim Montgomery to Joe Sacco last month. Those struggles to get into the lineup were especially glaring of late, with Johnson scratched in seven of the last eight games. And the 5-foot-8 Johnson also failed to that make one appearance count, with an ugly minus-4 rating and an offensive-zone penalty in 12:47 of action in last week’s blowout loss in Seattle.
The decision to terminate Johnson’s contract, which was a one-year deal worth the league minimum $775,000, comes in the midst of a strong push from fourth-line forward Marc McLaughlin (two goals in his last two games), and with winger Oliver Wahlstrom claimed off waivers last weekend.
Even below the NHL level, the Bruins have another forward knocking at the door looking for another NHL run, with Matt Poitras on the board with goals in seven straight games for the P-Bruins.
