It’s not often that a defenseman goes from top four to waivers in a few months.

This is the situation Travis Hamonic finds himself in. The Vancouver Canucks placed the 31-year-old on waiver just over two months after signing him to a two-year, $ 6 million extension.

Unlike most players who strike on waivers, Hamonic’s demotion is not tied to performance. He’s a player the Canucks would love to have in their lineup. However, he is officially staying away from the team on “personal matters”, which many believe may be related to the vaccine.

“It’s bigger than what you think it is,” chief executive Jim Benning told reporters on Monday.

Still, the idea that it was a vaccine was reinforced by the fact that Benning said the team are now 100% vaccinated, immediately after Hamonic’s demotion.

He is a player who has suffered a lot. ESPN reported on him in 2014 about his father’s sudden passing. Hamonic has also withdrawn from the 2020 playoffs, citing his daughter’s health. The Canucks are therefore giving him all the time he needs to imagine his future.

In a normal situation, the Canucks would get $ 1.125 million cap relief by sending Hamonic to the miners. Hamonic would receive his full salary of $ 3 million, but would only count $ 1.875 million against the Vancouver cap.

But of course, this is not a normal situation.

There are a few scenarios for Hamonic and the Canucks going forward.

Unvaccinated players will lose money, provide cap savings

According to COVID protocols established by the NHL, players will forfeit their salary if they miss team activities because they are not fully immunized. The NHL has also confirmed that NHL teams will not have this salary factored into the salary cap.

In short, Hamonic would theoretically lose nearly half of his $ 3 million salary if he joined the Canucks and played NHL games without being fully vaccinated. Players cannot cross the border to the United States without being fully vaccinated, and soon they will no longer be allowed to travel by air to Canada.

Vancouver has 33 of 41 road games in US cities this season.

In the league’s COVID 2021-22 protocols, the NHL gives an example of a player losing 1 / 200th of his salary for each day missed. In Hamonic’s situation, this works out to about $ 15,000 per day before tax.

One caveat to suspending a player because he is not vaccinated is that he can avoid the suspension if he has a legitimate medical reason not to be vaccinated, or if it violates his religious beliefs.

What’s happening in Abbotsford

Benning said Monday he expects Hamonic to report to Abbotsford. The Canucks, of course, have the option of telling him to stay home. That’s what the Columbus Blue Jackets did with Zac Rinaldo, who will receive his full salary of $ 300,000 in the AHL, but will not play for their farm team.

Because Hamonic signed a one-way contract, in that scenario he would be getting his full salary of $ 3 million and counting $ 1.875 million against the Canucks cap.

If Hamonic were allowed to play for Abbotsford, he would miss almost half of his team’s games. All but eight Abbotsford away games are in the United States.

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