One of the Montreal Canadiens’ two-way contracts has just been altered.
As explained by CapFriendly in a Friday X post, Canadiens winger Rafaël Harvey-Pinard is now eligible for waivers after hitting a milestone at the NHL level.
“Last night [Habs] forward Rafaël Harvey-Pinard played in his 70th career NHL game losing his waivers exemption,” CapFriendly wrote after the Canadiens’ 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. “Going forward, Harvey-Pinard will require waivers to be sent to the minors.”
Last night #GoHabsGo forward Rafaël Harvey-Pinard played in his 70th career NHL game, which resulted in him losing his waivers exemption.
Going forward, Harvey-Pinard will require waivers to be sent to the minors.https://t.co/Ix8oKrjix7
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) March 22, 2024
The 24-year-old was set to hit the 70-game mark months ago but was delayed after missing a large chunk of the ongoing season due to injury.
Spending most of his time in the Habs’ bottom six, Harvey-Pinard has one goal and eight points over 32 games with Montreal this year.
Before earning his second call-up from the Canadiens in the middle of the 2022-23 season, the Saguenay, Quebec, native had played in 145 games with the Laval Rocket, Montreal’s AHL affiliate, logging 46 goals and 107 points.
Over the offseason, Harvey-Pinard, who was drafted in the seventh round (201st overall) by Montreal in 2019, agreed to a two-year contract extension that will see him earn an average salary of $1.1 million per year.
With him now taking another step to become a full-time NHLer, the Canadiens still have five young players on their current roster who are exempt from waivers: Juraj Slafkovsky, Joshua Roy, Jayden Struble, Kaiden Guhle, and Arber Xhekaj.