The Florida Panthers have claimed defenceman Noah Juulsen off waivers from the Montreal Canadiens. This comes just days before the season begins. Teams are in the process of finalizing rosters and adding depth to taxi squads. Elliotte Friedman announced the claim late Monday morning.
https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1348676537336401920?s=20
Canadiens Claim Noah Juulsen
The 23-year-old Juulsen spent the entire 2019-20 campaign with Montreal’s AHL affiliate in Laval. He contributed just three assists in 13 games and obviously wasn’t much of a factor. He did play in the NHL in both 2017-18 and 2018-19 and posted two goals and eight points in 44 games combined. Juulsen’s Corsi For over those two seasons was a subpar 47.7 and his relative Corsi was a paltry -3.3. The one thing he did do quite well was getting in the way with 118 total hits and 73 blocks.
The Canadiens originally drafted Juulsen in the first round of the 2015 Draft. He’s never been a dynamic scorer even dating back to his nine-goal, 52 point season in 68 games for WHL Everett in 2014-15. He has gotten this far as a professional thanks to physical play and the willingness to contribute to the penalty kill. He saw decent minutes in that role in both of his brief NHL seasons.
Juulsen’s Role on the Panthers
The Panthers have a deep blueline, so expect Juulsen to take a spot on the team’s taxi squad. A compressed season will increase the strain on players. Florida can only benefit from an extra physical presence if someone like Radko Gudas or Kevin Connauton suffer injuries. Juulsen fits well into Florida’s current scheme of adding toughness to its roster after dropping some of its high-scoring players from 2019-20. The newest Panther won’t bring much to the table this year, but it’s also one more body available for this year and the Seattle expansion draft. The team could add yet another player if they want with just over $5.2 million in cap space.
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