Adam Henrique Placed on Waivers: CTP Staff Roundtable Reaction
Adam Henrique was placed on waivers Saturday morning by the Anaheim Ducks. 30 other NHL clubs will now have the opportunity to claim Henrique and three-plus years remaining on his contract that carries a $5.825 million cap hit. Let’s go around the table and see what the Crash the Pond team has to say about this. This article will be updated throughout the day.
What was your initial reaction to the news?
Felix: I was very surprised. The Ducks have been hard on Henrique before, however, so maybe I shouldn’t have been so shocked. Even still, to place a veteran who was recently given a long-term extension is significant however you slice it.
Jake: I was shocked, to be honest. I never in a million years expected to see Adam Henrique on waivers. I could have seen a trade coming, especially after he was scratched, but waiving Henrique on year two of a five-year deal is shocking.
CJ: I was completely shocked. While I have been an advocate of a trade for years, waivers was probably the last thing on my mind for Henrique. It just seems to me that there have been so many outs for the Ducks and Henrique here, and they chose possibly the worst one.
Why do you think the Ducks are doing this, and why now?
Felix: They may be starting to see the writing on the wall as they continue to languish at the bottom of the division. Sure, there has been some improvement as of late, but it just has not been enough.
Bob Murray surely must have shopped Henrique, and with no takers at the moment, sees this course of action as his next best move in getting out of that contract and consequently improving his team’s long-term financial outlook.
The Ducks have also been rumored to be aggressively searching for scoring help, so perhaps they want to clear cap space for whoever they intend on bringing in.
Jake: I think the Ducks are doing this for two reasons. I think Bob Murray believes the Ducks are better off without Adam Henrique, and this is purely speculation but I would think the Samueli’s have told Murray to reduce the payroll of the team due to the current economic climate.
As for why now, I think it largely has to do with Sonny Milano getting healthy. Murray probably wants to get him into the lineup ASAP and views Henrique as the player that should come out. By placing him on waivers, the roster spot could be opened up for Milano by Sunday.
CJ: Murray’s comments on Henrique should obviously be taken with a huge grain of salt. However, I see this as one of two things: either Murray genuinely believes this team should be a playoff contender and is underperforming, or he’s using this as a coverup to admit he was wrong. Neither looks good for him.
My opinion is that this is mostly being done as a cap move. I also buy into Jake’s theory that the Samuelis may have ordered him to decrease payroll.
Is there a world in which this is a good move for Anaheim?
Felix: The optics of this aren’t great, as it’s hard to ignore the fact that the Ducks are trying to move on from Henrique at a time where his value is at an all-time low. That being said, if they get out of his onerous contract scot-free, that is still positive in the long run, as they gain even more flexibility for the upcoming off-season.
If this move becomes the first shoe to drop in a broader tearing-down of the current roster, which is essentially proving that it’s far from even being a playoff contender, then yes, it’s a good one. If this is just a way to re-shuffle the deck chairs to continue to push for the fourth seed in the West, well, then not so much.
Jake: In the long term yes. The majority of us knew the Henrique contract would become an albatross the moment it was signed. If Henrique is claimed, the Ducks are able to remove his 5.825 million dollar cap hit for this season and the three following ones from their roster.
That frees up a significant amount of flexibility to resign younger players, make trades, or sign free agents. Murray has created a disaster for the Ducks salary cap this year and Henrique being claimed helps out with that significantly.
CJ: The biggest positive to come from this is getting out from under Henrique’s big contract. The fact that this team is even close to the salary cap is not good, so this opens up a lot of flexibility for the next few years.
The big question is to see what can be done with this newfound flexibility. Will Anaheim be able to take advantage properly? That remains to be seen.
What does this move say about where this season is headed, if anything?
Felix: I think it’s too early to say definitively, although it certainly doesn’t indicate that things are going particularly well. Like I mentioned in my previous response, this could go two ways: either the Ducks are finally admitting that things aren’t working, and they lean into the rebuild even further, or they are just shuffling things around to try to save the current season.
Jake: If we were to take Murray’s quotes at face value, this move is not an about-face for the organization. Murray is still in compete-now mode and believes this move will improve the Ducks roster this year and help them push for the playoffs. After looking into the numbers I highly disagree with that assessment.
Henrique has been one of the few Ducks above 50% in xGF% and CF% and is second on the team in terms of chance generation while he is on the ice, so removing him from the lineup will have a negative impact on the ice. Not so shocking the only on-ice metric he has been poor in is GF%, so that opinion from Murray is definitely a reaction to being on the ice for more goals against, which is mostly due to hockey being a high variance sport in smaller samples. So to answer the question, this move will make the Ducks worse and improve their draft odds.
CJ: I mentioned it previously, but on the surface this move would indicate that the Ducks are throwing in the towel on trying to make the playoffs. But that is directly at odds with Murray’s statement of being tired of waiting for good performances from veterans. We’re getting mixed signals with this move and there doesn’t appear to be a clear plan in place (at least publicly).
Does Henrique get claimed?
Felix: I think there are enough teams with both the cap space and the need for additional offense where the possibility of him being claimed cannot be dismissed out of hand. I wouldn’t bet my life on it, but for the sake of fun, and to re-affirm my place on team chaos, I will say yes, he does get claimed.
Jake: I will say yes. There are a few teams in the league near the cap floor that do not have many players signed for the next few years, so they will be willing to take on a veteran player with some term in order to help them hit the cap floor. I will put my money on Detroit claiming him.
CJ: That contract is a killer. It wouldn’t shock me if no one claims him. However, there are a few teams with the cap space that could benefit from a player like him. So in that sense, it’s entirely possibly he gets claimed.
One thing is for certain, though. Adam Henrique’s time in Anaheim has come to an end.