The Nashville Predators announced on Friday that they have placed forward Samuel Fagemo back on waivers after claiming him on October 2nd. He has already been reclaimed by the LA Kings.
Fagemo was a healthy scratch for the first five games of the season, but after an injury to center Cody Glass during their game against the New York Rangers, Head Coach Andrew Brunette had no choice but to put the newest member of the team on the ice.
During his Predators debut, Fagemo scored his first goal with the team in the first period against the San Jose Sharks. After some good chances during his first shift and the help of his linemates Gus Nyquist and Alex Carrier, he was able to tally his first goal in gold.
Fagemo Hype Dried Up after his Debut NHL Game with Nashville Predators
After his debut game however, Fagemo’s production took an instant decline, and Brunette gave him less and less ice time as his time on the team went on. His debut game, Fagemo had over twelve minutes of ice time, and in his most recent game, he only recorded 8:23.
After that initial goal, Fagemo didn’t seem to bring as much to the team as Brunette had probably initially hoped when the front office claimed him off of waivers.
Another important thing to note is Fagemo’s competition with Philip Tomasino. From the beginning of the season, the roster has been far from consistent, especially in regards to both Fagemo and Tomasino.
After a relatively rough start for Tomasino, Brunette decided to healthy scratch Tomasino in favor of Fagemo.
After getting the opportunity however, Fagemo didn’t look much better than Tomasino, and continued to not bring much to a team that has been desperate for offensive chances.
The claiming of Fagemo also took several chances away from some of Nashville’s younger players that have now been playing in Milwaukee. Players like Egor Afanasyev who saw some time in Nashville last year, Joakim Kemell who has proven that he has plenty of offensive power with his shot, and Denis Gurianov who leads the Admirals in points were all sent down to Milwaukee to make a spot for Fagemo.
Tomasino has Appeared to Earn his Way Back into Starting Lineup
In terms of the roster spots, this could mean that Tomasino is back in good graces with his coach after his outstanding performance against the Winnipeg Jets. Even though the team lost, Tomasino was able to score a much needed goal when the team was feeling most desperate, proving that he can come in clutch when the team needs to get the scoring going.
Tomasino also had the best plus/minus statistics of the entire team for that game, even though he recorded the third least ice time.
Brunette has been struggling to find what line combinations will work best for the team, and seems very persistent about the idea that chemistry is everything for a team. The only line that seems to be working in the way he wants is the Thomas Novak, Luke Evangelista and Kiefer Sherwood line. Other than those three, Brunette has been experimenting with several different line combinations and defensive pairings, but couldn’t seem to find anyone that Fagemo worked well with.
Even though he might be a great individual player, Fagemo didn’t seem to mesh with the team as well as we would have hoped.
Another waiver wire experiment, Liam Foudy, has been much more consistent and has become a regular starter for the Predators. Foudy and Tomasino both got the start against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, leaving Michael McCarron and Yakov Trenin as your healthy scratches.
Although this definitely wasn’t the outcome that Brunette and General Manager Barry Trotz were hoping for when they claimed Fagemo, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a complete failure. The addition of Fagemo to this relatively young team filled with several players that are trying to prove that they can be an asset at the NHL level added some much needed competition.
If it weren’t for Fagemo, Tomasino might not have had as much motivation to really go out and finally find his rhythm with the team.