Pascal Leclaire placed on waivers

The Ottawa Senators have placed goalie Pascal Leclaire on waivers, almost certainly ending his career with the Senators (and it's unlikely that any NHL team offers him a contract next season, either). Leclaire was brought in from Columbus as part of the Antoine Vermette trade and was expected to be the team's number one goalie for the foreseeable future. However, a string of bizarre injuries limited him to just 48 games over his two season with the Senators, and when he did play he rarely lived up to the lofty expectations placed on him by fans and the media.

The chances of a team picking up the oft-injured Leclaire seem almost non-existent, so it looks like this move is simply to keep Leclaire in the AHL. The Ottawa Sun is reporting that part of the reason Leclaire is on waivers is that the organization plans on keeping Robin Lehner up with the big club. This is still problematic as Lehner is not getting the playing time a prospect needs in order to develop, but perhaps he has a better chance of getting starts with the hopeless Ottawa Senators than the playoff-pushing Binghamton Senators (whose starter, Barry Brust, is something of a local hero).

It's an unfortunate end to the Pascal Leclaire saga, but at this point it almost seems overdue.