Renauld Lavoie of RDS advises today via Twitter that the Nashville Predators have placed defenseman Teemu Laakso on waivers. While he has been on injured reserve lately recovering from having a cyst removed from his back, the rise of Roman Josi from the Milwaukee Admirals has apparently given the Preds confidence that Laakso's services won't be needed here.
If he clears waivers (we'll know shortly after 11:00 a.m. Central tomorrow) he can be assigned to Milwaukee, otherwise he'll go to the team which claims him. He's currently on a one-year, two-way contract which pays $675,000/$105,000.
Laakso has been in the Preds system since the 2008-9 season, spending almost all of that time with the Milwaukee Admirals but making occasional appearances with the Predators (17 games over the last three seasons). Given the state of the development pipeline, this is merely a case of him getting squeezed out by competition.
In many ways, this situation mirrors that of last spring, when after just two games as a Predator, Jonathon Blum had earned the confidence of the coaching staff and front office to the point that they traded Alexander Sulzer to Florida, even though that left the Preds with just 20 guys on the Active Roster.