Insider reveals reason Craig Smith was waived

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Dorin Canaday
December 19, 2022 (7:41)

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The Boston Bruins made a surprising move Sunday when the placed Craig Smith on waivers.

The veteran forward has just 4 points in 17 games this season, while mainly playing in the bottom-six.

Although it was quite shocking to some fans, Bruins insider Dominic Tiano shared the reasoning behind the roster move, which makes it make much more sense.

As per Tiano:

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�'Assuming Smith does not get claimed, the most important reason for waivers today is the Holiday Roster Freeze which goes into effect midnight tomorrow until midnight on December 27. It was the last opportunity to do so until after the roster freeze and gives the Bruins a chance to bank some much-needed cap space, however small it might be.''

Basically, it saves the Bruins some extra cap space now and in the long run. Smith (if unclaimed) can be sent from Boston to Providence for 30 days, or 10 games, without waivers.

There's a good chance Smith goes unclaimed, as he's 33 and in the final year of a contract that carries a $3.1 million cap hit.

Tiano also shared how much cap space each scenario involving Smith saves the Bruins.

'' Well, If Smith is claimed tomorrow, he will have a cap hit to the Bruins of $1,156,216 for the time he has spent on the roster, meaning that $1,943,784 will be cleared in cap space. This move alone will add about $5.1 million deadline cap space for Boston, meaning they can add a player with an AAV of $5.24 million as opposed to a player with an AAV of $148,000 (they don't exist) before this move.''

�'If Smith goes unclaimed and the Bruins actually send Smith to Providence, it gets a little more complicated, but Boston would save $705,405 on the cap. That would still increase the Bruins deadline cap space to $3,255,546, meaning they could add a player with that much of an AAV on trade deadline.''

All other 31 NHL teams have until 2 pm EST on Monday to claim Smith. Below is the link to Dominic Tiano's full write up on the roster move. It's a great read!

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NHL players in this story
Craig Smith