Los Angeles has placed blueliner Tom Gilbert on waivers, per Sportsnet.
Gilbert, 34, signed on with the Kings last summer after two seasons in Montreal. He’s scored five points in just 18 appearances this year, spending most of his time in the press box as a healthy scratch.
He also missed three games to suspension for boarding Anaheim forward Nick Ritchie.
Earlier in his career, Gilbert was a decent offensive defenseman that racked up 45 points for the Oilers in ’08-09. But now, having suffered a season-ending knee injury in Montreal last year, he appears a step slow and doesn’t seem like a candidate to be claimed.
His $1.4 million cap hit probably won’t help any, either.
Speaking of that cap hit, the Kings will (presumably) stash Gilbert in the minors if he clears, and get some financial relief. Here’s CapFriendly with more...
#Kings are quietly building up cap space. They currently have $6.89M in deadline space, which could go up to $8.48M if Gilbert is assigned.
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) February 1, 2017