Habs Place William Trudeau on Waivers

One of Montreal’s defence prospects is up for grabs as the Habs announced on Thursday that they’ve placed William Trudeau on waivers for purpose of reassignment to Laval.

The 22-year-old was a fourth-round pick by the Habs back in 2021, going 113th overall.  He has been a key player for Laval over his first three professional seasons but he hasn’t had a chance to play in the NHL yet.  Still, he showed enough to receive a one-year, two-way deal from the Canadiens back in July.

Last season, Trudeau played in 68 games for the Rocket, collecting five goals and 14 assists.  He also played in eight games during the playoffs, notching three assists before suffering an injury that kept him out for the rest of the postseason and into this season, landing him on season-opening IR and delaying the waiver placement until he’s cleared to return.  Because he didn’t spend any time on Montreal’s roster last season, there was no partial cap charge for him over these past few weeks.

If Trudeau makes it through unclaimed at 2 PM ET on Friday, he can be sent down and join a Laval back end that has gotten much deeper in the past 24 hours with Marc Del Gaizo and David Reinbacher being sent down.  That should certainly give the Rocket a boost as they host Rochester in a back-to-back set starting on Friday.