Ducks Make Roster Moves

The Ducks made a few changes to their roster on Monday before practice. Erik Christensen was placed on waivers and teams will have until 9am Tuesday to claim him, while Matt Beleskey was sent back to the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL.

These are interesting moves for the Ducks. Christensen was a healthy scratch in the last two games and did not figure to break into the lineup anytime soon so it was not a surprising move. Head Coach Randy Carlyle said that he’d like Christensen to regain his confidence in the AHL after coming back from shoulder surgery, but he may be claimed on waivers before that happens. Though it is unlikely Christensen will be claimed by tomorrow’s deadline, clubs might be more interested if he’s placed on re-entry waivers since they will only have to pay half of his remaining salary.

Beleskey played in three games for the Ducks this season and did not record a point. He played solid but did not do anything that would warrant keeping him with the big club. He would be better suited in the AHL where he will get more playing time in all situations.

But sending these players down isn’t what’s interesting about these moves. The Ducks now have no spare forwards to back up the team if there were to be an injury or if a player left the team for some reason. That begs the question: is Kyle Calder going to be called up soon?

Calder is playing in the ECHL with the Ducks’ affiliate in Bakersfield, so he’s not too far away from Anaheim. Basic intuition would say that he would be recalled, but Carlyle said bringing up Calder was not being considered. That brings up another question: could GM Bob Murray be preparing the Ducks for a trade or other moves?

I’ve dedicated many articles to this topic, summarized in this article, so I won’t write about it again here. But with everything that’s going on it wouldn’t be a surprise if something did end up happening on the trade front.