Jets Claim Dano Off Waivers

Wait, weren’t the Jets the ones who put him on waivers in the first place? Yes, yes they were. Maybe we should explain a little bit…

Back in October the Jets put Dano on waivers in an effort to send him to the Moose. With Petan returning from his personal leave, Dano was the odd man out with both Lemieux and Vesalainen ahead of Dano on the depth chart.

Dano didn’t make it to the Moose as he was claimed by the Colorado Avalanche. While many people thought Dano could flourish with the Avalanche given their youth and skill, he never quite found a foothold and only played eight games. In those games, he had zero goals, zero assists and seven PIM while playing 6:53 minutes a night. These are hardly inspiring numbers and Colorado had seen enough.

This led to Colorado placing Dano on waivers with the purpose of reassigning him the AHL.

There’s the story, but two questions remain.

First of all, how can they get him off waivers and assign him straight to the Moose? Waiver acquisitions need to be on the NHL club and will require waivers again if wanting to be sent down.

This is where the fine print of the CBA comes in handy. Because I don’t like reading hundreds of pages of legal documents, here are some others explaining it further.

So it appears that all the conditions were met. The Jets were the original team, Dano only played eight games, and nobody else put in a claim for a guy who got waived twice in a month.

So now we know how the Jets could do it, but why did the Jets claim Dano?

Things were very different a month ago in Winnipeg. Both Lemieux and Vesalainen were looking to make an impact and it appeared that both of them were ahead of Dano. Since then, Lemieux has been suspended for a terrible hit, and Vesalainen has opted to go back to Europe for the rest of the year. If the Jets want some depth, Dano is a great option. Should the Jets run into injury trouble, it’s nice to have a player with some NHL experience who can step straight into the lineup.

Dano also knows the systems the Jets play and is familiar with the team and coaching staff. The familiarity goes a long way towards making an impact in the lineup. Lastly, because the Jets are able to send Dano straight to the Moose, it allows him to get more playing time without taking up a pressbox seat. It’s a very low risk move that could payoff down the road.

In the meantime, here’s some movie quotes that Dano might be thinking as he arrives in Winnipeg to greet his team.

Let us know your thoughts. Are you welcoming Dano back with open arms? Or do you think this was a bad move by the organization? Comment below or tell us on Twitter!