Faced with a salary cap crunch and some young players for whom they have relatively high hopes, the Bruins attempted to shed some salary on Sunday by putting three veterans on waivers ahead of the NHL’s deadline for clubs to get down to the 23-man roster limit.

Defenseman Mike Reilly, who has two years left at $3 million per season, Nick Foligno, who is on the final year of a deal that is paying him $3.8 million, and Chris Wagner, who has one year left at $1.35 million were all waived. All three cleared waivers on Monday and could be sent to Providence of the American Hockey League, though the team doesn’t necessarily have to send them down.

Of the three, the biggest surprise is left-shooting Reilly. He’s had a pretty good camp, scoring the winning goal against the Rangers on Wednesday. He also seemed like he might be a good fit in Coach Jim Montgomery’s system that encourages more offensive activation by the defenseman, and he’s been skating well following offseason ankle surgery. But in the preseason finale, Reilly was on the ice for four out of the five New Jersey Devils goals in the Bruins’ 5-3 loss on Saturday.

How much that last game factored into the decision is anyone’s guess, but the defense corps is crowded, even with Charlie McAvoy out until late November. Matt Grzelcyk (shoulder) has no return target date just yet but he has been a full participant in practice the last couple of days. When Grzelcyk returns, that would give the Bruins four left-shot defensemen, along with Hampus Lindholm, Derek Forbort and Jakub Zboril. On the right side, the Bruins have Brandon Carlo and Connor Clifton while they await the return of McAvoy.

Also, veteran Anton Stralman has been in camp on a tryout, and he’s given every indication that he can still play. There was no official deal announced for Stralman on Sunday, but Montgomery has clearly liked his work. And if he checks all the boxes, there would seem to be little reason to bring him into camp on a tryout and not extend an offer, unless the two sides can’t agree on a dollar amount.

Whether or not another team is willing to take on Reilly’s contract remains to be seen. While he has had a penchant for stick penalties, he does have some strong analytic numbers, especially on breakouts. If a team does claim Reilly, it would go a long way toward getting the Bruins under the salary cap, depending on what a potential Stralman deal would look like.

In the case of Foligno, the well respected veteran did his best to leave a good impression with Montgomery and management, playing a solid and energetic game in the preseason finale. But work ethic and character have never been an issue with Foligno. It is whether the soon-to-be 35-year-old forward can still produce the requisite amount of offense, even in a fourth-line role. Last year, he scored just two goals.

Wagner had a solid camp, hitting everything in sight in true Wagnerian style. But it apparently was not enough for management to value him over Tomas Nosek, who can play both center and wing.

Meanwhile, Jack Studnicka remains in camp, which is not a big surprise considering the 23-year-old centerman requires waivers and the fact that he had an overall good camp despite his own minus-4 on Saturday. A.J. Greer, who also requires waivers, earned a job, and for the time being, the waiver-exempt Jakub Lauko, who scored two goals in the preseason and brings an element of sandpaper, is still with the team.

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