Vitaly Vishnevsky on waivers

[fzusher]

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The former 1st rounder is on waiver, as per TSN. Several teams, including Tampa, are looking for D depth, and Tampa have said already they\'d be looking to the waiver wire for that, but I\'m not sure a guy with a salary of 2M for the next two seasons was what they were hoping for. There are no recall waivers during the summer so no half price.
On the Devils front, I\'d say this pretty much assures Motteau and Salmela a roster spot - at least, they\'ve one to lose going into camp. If VV is picked up by another team and Salmela earns his spot, the Devils will have saved just under 1M in cap, giving them trade deadline maneuverability, but not much more.

[Promethee]

I wonder if either one of Eckford or McBain stands a chance to make the team? NJ needs a puck moving D-man after all.

[angus]

Corrente.

Vishnevski can\'t play defense. Awesome hitter, though.

[Dakkster]

Over the years I\'ve heard that Vishnevski is a real hard case to communicate with. It\'s like he refuses to listen to his teammates and goalies.

[ericdaoust]

Former 5th overall pick, the next big shutdown dman...

Just goes to show that even in the top 10 there\'s no guarantees with 18 year olds...

[fzusher]

http://njmg.typepad.com/devilsblog/2...vski-clea.html

VV cleared waivers and is heading to Russia, according to Lamorielo. From the blog entry above:

\"He expressed a desire to go back to Russia for personal reasons and I respect that,\" Lamoriello said. \"We didn\'t want this to develop into a situation September, so we placed him on waivers now and this will allow him to go play there.\"

The Devils will not be buying out the remaining two years on the three-year, $5.4 million contract Vishnevski signed last summer and will maintain his contract rights in the NHL, but, now that he has cleared waivers, they are free to assign him to a team in Russia rather than put him in Lowell. The Rangers did something similar with Darius Kasparaitis last season.

Lamoriello said he believed that Vishnevski already has worked an arrangement with a team in Russia, but did not say which one.

Comment: Still no word from allhockey.ru on where in Russia he\'ll sign, but he\'ll have no shortage of suitors as he counts as local, not international.

[fzusher]

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As I reported on the above forum thread from two weeks ago, the GM of Avangard Omsk, Jagr\'s team, has admitted that they tried, and failed, to strengthen their D over the summer because no good Russian Ds were available and the team has no international roster spots remaining. At the time, the GM said he didn\'t expect to add any more roster players. However, in the last two days they traded away Chistov and last year\'s 3rd liner Alexei Tertyshny for draft picks.

This may be a coincidence, but they also may be the team VV is heading to ...

[fzusher]

http://www.allhockey.ru/news/34966/
http://www.allhockey.ru/news/34976/

Confirmation - VV signed for Lokomotiv Yaroslav, joining Yashin, Mikhnov, Vasichek, and most intriguingly for the conspiracy theorists among you, Devils 2006 2nd round pick Alexander Vasyunov. Lokomotiv president has announced the Devils have given their agreement for the move.