The waiver wire is usually pretty quiet at this time of year but as always, there's usually some players who are put on unconditional waivers to have their contract terminated in order to seek a new opportunity, either here in North America or in Europe. That was the case on Saturday afternoon.
In a post on social media, James Mirtle of The Athletic shared that Tampa Bay Lightning forward prospect Ilya Usau has been placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating the final year of his contract.
Mirtle also added that Usau is expected to return to the KHL, where he spent the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons with Dynamo Minsk, his hometown team in Belarus.
Usau, 22, appeared in 42 games this season for the Lightning's American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. In those 42 games, the Minsk native put up 14 points (seven goals, seven assists), 14 penalty minutes and was a plus-12.
It'll be interesting to see if Usau comes back to North America at any point in the future. He's still young and if he goes home to play in the KHL and proves he can play in the NHL, then there could be another team lining up for his services.
