Craig Anderson is back in the lineup for the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon and that means they had to make a roster move to make room for him.
That move was to waive goaltender Andrew Hammond, who is celebrating his 29th birthday on Saturday.
Hammond, who burst onto the scene and came out of nowhere late in the 2014 season to help lead the Senators to a surprising playoff spot, has appeared in just six games this season and managed only an .837 save percentage, allowing 14 goals on 86 shots.
He started on Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues, allowing six goals in a 6-4 loss.
He has spent the majority of this season sitting on the bench as Mike Condon received almost all of the playing time while Anderson was away from the team to be with his wife as she battles cancer.
Hammond has one more year after this one remaining on a three-year contract that pays him $1.35 million per season.
While it has been a rough season for him it is also likely that it is just a terrible stretch of games that happened all at once. Prior to this season he was at the very least a solid backup that could produce average to above average play in net. He might be worth a gamble for a team that needs some goaltending depth, and while his contract isn’t exactly small, it’s not one that would be crippling to a team’s salary cap situation either.