Caps and Bears make cuts

Yesterday we got word of 7 cuts by the Bears and today we get word of 4 cuts from the Capitals.

First the Bears cuts...

These 5 are off to South Carolina:

• F David de Kostrazza
• F Anton Gustafsson
• F Jake Hauswirth
• G Jared DeMichiel
• D Dustin Stevenson

In addition to those, F Kaleigh Shrock is headed to Fort Wayne of the IHL. And D Wes O'Neill was released from his tryout contract.

No real surprises there. The biggest might be Gustafsson. Former 1st rounder just isn't quite performing to that level. Stevenson had a good camp with the Caps but he is coming from a tier 2 junior league so a little more work is probably good.

Was hoping to see Hauswirth make a claim on a roster spot as I am curious how he uses his size in the offensive end. But Hershey is deep at center right now so he was expendable.

Now onto the Caps cuts...

Mathieu Perreault and Jay Beagle are on their way to Hershey now and Andrew Gordon and Brian Fahey were placed on waivers.

If you have been reading this blog recently you would know that I didn't think Washington would cut Gordon because he is a risk to get picked up on waivers. I figured he would stay in Washington and get the extra forward spot at least to start the year.

So now he has to wait until noon tomorrow to see where he will end up. It is quite possible that Washington knew a while ago that they were going to send him down but waited until this date for a reason. All NHL teams must get their rosters to 23 now so by waiting until all teams are making tough decisions you might be able to slip Gordon through waivers.

Hopefully it works out. As a Bears fan I selfishly want Gordon in Hershey but at the same time if he gets picked up by a team that is going to give him a legitimate shot than I will be very happy for him and his chance.

As for the other two players....I was right. Perry didn't beat out Marcus Johansson and due to MoJo's willingness to go back to Sweden, Perry wasn't going to start the season in Washington.

Beagle...he is a 4th liner in the NHL (at this time anyway) that could potentially develop into a 3rd liner. But Washington already has 5 guys that can play on the 3rd/4th line so Beagle, who doesn't have to worry about waivers, was a long shot to make the club.

I can assure you though that Beagle and Perreault are likely the top 2 recall candidates going into the season.

Bears hockey is only 4 days away!!