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40 players put on waivers; Sabres plan to get under salary cap becomes evident

St. Louis Blues v Buffalo Sabres

BUFFALO, NY - FEBRUARY 18: Shaone Morrisonn #27 of the Buffalo Sabres skates away from TJ Oshie #74 and Patrik Berglund #21 of the St. Louis Blues at HSBC Arena on February 18, 2011 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

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It’s an inevitable part of training camp when players are released, cut, or waived. Today, 40 players were placed on waivers by 11 different teams. Among the notable names are two guys who are necessary for their teams to stay under the salary cap in Chicago’s Cristobal Huet and New York Rangers’ Wade Redden. With those players waived, Huet will head back to Europe to play while Redden is destined for the AHL.

A pair of names from Buffalo that landed on the waiver wire were forward Ales Kotalik and defenseman Shaone Morrisonn. The Sabres are currently over the salary cap by more than $3.5 million according to CapGeek.com. By putting Kotalik and Morrisonn on waivers with the purpose of sending them to the AHL and get their salaries off the books, they’ll free up $5.075 million.

Kotalik has a cap hit of $3 million while Morrisonn is set in at $2.075 million. Life in the NHL isn’t always fair and a spot in the big show is never guaranteed, especially when your job can be done by someone with a much lower cap hit. In Morrisonn’s case, his spot on the blue line can be taken by either Mike Weber or Marc-Andre Gragnani. Kotalik’s spot at forward was the most flexible one to be taken as the Sabres have a host of younger players to fill their needs on the wings on their third and fourth lines.

Both Kotalik and Morrisonn came into training camp hoping to prove they could stick with the big team. With the cap crunch being as hard as it was for the Sabres, both players would’ve needed to show above and beyond in camp that they belong in the NHL. While they might’ve been doing that, getting their salaries off the cap and into the AHL makes too much sense for Buffalo. By dumping those two players into the AHL, the Sabres can now get under the cap by nearly $1.5 million. It might not be great business, but it’s how life is with the cap.

To see the full list of those who were waived today, TSN has the full list.