Just two months after he was acquired in a trade with Pittsburgh, Rob Scuderi has been put on waivers by the Chicago Blackhawks.
The 37-year-old defenseman has played 17 games for the defending champs, registering no points with a minus-6 rating. He’s only averaged 11:06 of ice time and has been a healthy scratch the past two games.
Scuderi is also signed through next season for a cap hit (for the ‘Hawks) of $2.25 million. No word yet what the Blackhawks intend to do with him should he clear waivers.
In last night’s 7-2 win over Toronto, the Blackhawks’ six d-men were Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Michal Rozsival, Viktor Svedberg, and Trevor van Riemsdyk.
Erik Gustafsson was the other healthy scratch.
With Scuderi on waivers, speculation can only increase that GM Stan Bowman will try to add a defenseman prior to the Feb. 29 trade deadline.
In a possibly related story, head coach Joel Quenneville has not been very happy with all the shots his team has been surrendering of late. It was 44 the other night against Anaheim, then 37 against Toronto.
“Our defensive zone coverage, too much time, too many shots and too much possession against us,” Quenneville said, per CSN Chicago. “That’s something we have to rectify and improve upon.”
That’s not all on the defense, of course -- but some of it is.
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