Bruins explain why they ditched Craig Smith

The Boston Bruins are off to the best start in franchise history, enjoying a 24-4-2 record with Christmas right around the corner. They also set NHL history by becoming the first ever team to earn points in each of their first 12 home games of the schedule. 

But while the team hasn't been completely healthy all year, they did make the decision to part ways with one underperforming veteran on the roster. Craig Smith was waived yesterday, and each of the 31 other NHL teams decided to pass on picking him up for free. 

“The roster move is something we needed to do to safeguard any [salary] cap situations. All I know is working with Don Sweeney, when he says this is something that ‘we need to do’ I know that he’s done his homework and I listen to him thoroughly about anything like that,” said head coach Jim Montgomery. “With [Craig Smith], he played one of his best games of the year last game so we’re not expecting to make any changes to the lineup tonight [against the Panthers] but we have to be patient on that because of the waiver process.”

Smith, who has a cap hit of $3.1 million this year, has scored one goal and four points this season in 17 games so far in 2022-23.