However, after that ebb, the flow of the tide has turned the other way. Since Jan. 13, the IceCaps have received seven players on assignment from the parent Montreal Canadiens, with just one headed the other way.
It could be eight if defenceman Mark Barberio, who was placed on waivers by the Canadiens Wednesday, isn’t claimed by another NHL team. If Barberio clears this afternoon, he, too, will be assigned to St. John’s (20-18-6), which begins a six-game American Hockey League road trip Friday night in Wilkes-Barre. Pa.
Placing Barberio on waivers was one of two moves made by Montreal on Wednesday. The other saw the team send winger Daniel Carr — who is not subject to waivers — to the IceCaps.
During the last three weeks of January, St. John’s also received forwards Nikita Scherbak, Bobby Farnham, Chris Terry and Michael McCarron, along with defenceman Ryan Johnston and Zach Redmond from Montreal.
With the Canadiens getting a number of players back from injury and acquiring defenceman Nikita Nesterov in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning, roster adjustments were necessary.
Defencemen Andrei Markov and Greg Pateryn, as well as forwards David Desharnais and Alex Galchenyuk came out of the Canadiens’ infirmary over the last week, leaving only winger Brendan Gallagher (hand) on injured reserve.
Still, the moves with Carr and Barberio were somewhat surprising.
Firstly, the Canadiens only needed to drop one player in order to get to the maximum 23-man roster. Secondly, Carr had played in Montreal’s 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday, while defensive centre Jacob de la Rose (the lone player called up from St. John’s in the last three weeks) was a healthy scratch, along with Barberio and fellow rearguard Jeff Petry, who was ill.
Not that IceCaps fans will complain that Carr has been sent down.
The 25-year-old, who had two goals and six assists in 31 games with Montreal, is a proven offensive performer at the AHL level, with 12 goals and 12 assists as an IceCap over the last two seasons. That includes two goals and an assist in a brief three-game stint with St. John’s earlier this season.
Barberio, if he joins the IceCaps, should also provide a big boost, especially to a moribund St. John’s power play, one that produced just one goal in 11 games in January
In 20 games with the IceCaps in the first part of this season, Barberio had 18 points on three goals and 15 assists, with 15 of his points coming on the power play. The 26 year-old Montreal native, who has four assists in 26 games with the Canadiens, was signed to two-year, one-way contract by Montreal last summer. So was Carr.
Should Barberio clear, his arrival would give St. John’s what is arguably its strongest lineup of the season. However, the projected performance of teams on paper and the reality of what happens on the ice often differ. For example, the strengthening that came with the returns of Scherbak, Farnham. McCarron, Terry and Johnston didn’t show up in the record of the IceCaps, who have lost five of their last six games.
