Washington claimed forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel off waivers from Toronto on Saturday as the Capitals scrambled to flesh out their forward depth amid a cascade of injuries.
The move comes a day after the team announced that fourth-line left wing Beck Malenstyn had surgery to repair a broken finger on his left hand.
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The Maple Leafs placed Aube-Kubel on waivers because the 26-year-old had struggled to find his fit, recording no points in six games. Toronto had reportedly made Aube-Kubel available in a trade, but with no takers he was put on waivers with the intention of demoting him to the AHL Marlies.
Enter the injury-plagued Caps, who on Saturday hosted Arizona with $35 million in players on the shelf.
Aube-Kubel was not expected to join Washington until Sunday’s practice at the earliest.
“He’s a role player. He’s fast, he’s gritty, he’s physical,” Coach Peter Laviolette said after the Caps’ 3-2 loss to Arizona. “He’s top-10 in hits per game in the league. So he’ll bring an element of physicality. He can pop in some points; he had over 10 goals and 10 assists last year, as well.”
To make room, Garrett Pilon, called up Wednesday from AHL Hershey, was returned to the Bears before he suited up for a game in D.C.
It wasn’t immediately clear where Aube-Kubel, a right-shot winger, might slot into the Caps lineup, but with Malenstyn out, the 6-foot, 207-pounder figures to get an opportunity in Malenstyn’s vacated spot.
Washington views the acquisition as a low-risk addition to a roster that desperately needs proven NHL depth. Aube-Kubel signed a one-year, $1 million contract with Toronto on the opening day of free agency.
Caps forward lines Saturday vs. Arizona
| Left wing | Center | Right wing |
|---|---|---|
Alex Ovechkin | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Conor Sheary |
Sonny Milano | Dylan Strome | Marcus Johansson |
Connor McMichael | Lars Eller | Anthony Mantha |
Aliaksei Protas | Nic Dowd | Garnet Hathaway |
Joe Snively was the lone healthy scratch among Caps forwards against the Coyotes.
Last season, Aube-Kubel enjoyed a breakout year with the Avalanche, racking up 11 goals and 11 assists in 67 regular-season games. He also ranked first among Colorado forwards in hits with 123. In 14 playoff games, though, he did not register a point.
Aube-Kube also hoisted — and dropped — the Stanley Cup.
Nicholas Aube-Kubel might have ruined his chances at being a future Keeper of the Cup 😬pic.twitter.com/4JcMPxg9XK
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) June 27, 2022
Aube-Kubel is a strong skater and, when he’s on his game he can bring energy and physicality to the lineup. He is effective on the forecheck.
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Toronto hoped he would help offset some of the speed lost in depth players such as Ilya Mikheyev. But Aube-Kubel failed to jell with the Maple Leafs’ fourth line, where he skated alongside Zach Aston-Reese and David Kämpf.
“We felt coming in that could be a real strong long line for us,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters in Toronto earlier this week, “and be a line that we could rely upon. And the line just didn’t go well.”
Keefe added: “It just hasn’t quite happened for him here. Got a little bit of a benefit of the doubt early on; he had a much shorter offseason than everyone else in our building. But that can only last for so long.”
On Friday, Aube-Kubel was put on waivers after he sat out five of the previous six games as a healthy scratch. Now, Philadelphia’s second-round pick in 2014 will get an opportunity with the Capitals, his fourth club in two seasons. He’s expected to wear No. 96 in D.C.
The pickup of Aube-Kubel was the second such transaction in recent weeks for the Caps, who signed Sonny Milano on Oct. 15 after the 26-year-old winger was released from his PTO in Calgary. Milano made his debut against the Coyotes.
Washington opened the season without forwards Nicklas Backstrom (hip surgery), Tom Wilson (ACL surgery) and Carl Hagelin (eye and hip surgeries) and have since seen Connor Brown (ACL surgery), T.J. Oshie (lower body/indefinite) and Malenstyn go down. In all, the Capitals had already lost 51 man games going into Saturday’s game.
When Aube-Kubel arrives in D.C., he’ll encounter at least a couple of familiar faces in the locker room: Darcy Kuemper, with whom spent last season in Colorado, and Anthony Mantha, his junior teammate for a couple of seasons with Val d’Or Foreurs in the QMJHL.
(Top photo of Nicolas Aube-Kubel: David Kirouac / USA Today)
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