Campbell: Top NHL Waiver Wire Pickups

Hi everybody. You know, when it comes to the NHL waiver wire, it kind of vacillates between being the scrap heap and the yard sale. But here's the thing. If you're diligent enough and you work hard enough and you get a lot of luck, sometimes you can show up at the at the dump or at somebody's garage sale or yard sale and get yourself a very hidden gem, something that is very useful to you for a long time. And with that in mind, let's take a look at the top five NHL waiver wire pickups of all time and wait for number one, of course, coming in at #5 Steve Sullivan. In 1999 the Chicago Blackhawks picked him up on waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs and he had a bunch of good years in Chicago for some pretty bad teams. Had like 320 goal seasons and really kick started his career as an offensive player coming in at #4 Marty Jelena. 1994 was the year and he went from the Quebec Nordiques to the Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver picked him up as a waiver pick up and he played four years in Vancouver, 4 plus years in Vancouver twice scoring 30 or more goals for the Canucks coming in at #3 Ray Whitney from the Edmonton Oilers to the Florida Panthers. And once he joined the Florida Panthers, he really kicked it up several notches, had a couple of thirty goal years and was a very good player for them. Coming in at #2 Michael Grabner 2010. The New York Islanders picked him up on waivers from the Florida Panthers, who had who had traded for him from Vancouver. And all Grabner did was score 34 goals and be a finalist for the Calder Trophy that season. So before we get to #1 let's let's get to a couple of honorable mentions #1 Igor Larianov from Vancouver to San Jose, Todd Marchant from Columbus to Anaheim in 2005. Two years later, he wins a Stanley Cup with Anaheim and Manny Malholtra, going from the Dallas Stars to the Columbus Blue Jackets. But number one, and no recency bias here, number one with a bullet is Gustav Forsling of the Florida Panthers, who was picked up on waivers from the defense rich Carolina Hurricanes in 2021. And all he's done then is be a premier defenseman in the NHL. He kills penalties. He's a shutdown guy with Aaron Ackblad. He scores points and he has been fantastic through this playoff run that we all now probably will almost certainly 100% conclude with a Florida Panthers Stanley Cup champion. So Gustav Forsling goes from waiver wire to Stanley Cup champion in a couple of easy steps and he is the best one. Not so sure about the 5.75 * 8 year contract extension that kicks in next year. That will probably look good for a couple of years and then it will probably look pretty bad. But nonetheless, he's got a Stanley Cup. The Florida Panthers have their Stanley Cup and he's a big part of it. And he was picked up on waivers. For The Hockey News, I'm Ken Campbell.