Waivers (NHL)
Encyclopedia
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(NHL) labor management procedure by which an NHL team makes a professional ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
player’s contract and rights available to all other NHL teams. The term refers to the term that other NHL teams 'waive' any claim to a player designated for assignment, re-entry from minor leagues or designated for release. The process is typically referred to as 'being placed on waivers.'
Minor league assignment procedure
In the NHL, each player signs what is, or is a variation of, a standard NHL player's contract. The contract specifies that the team has exclusive rights to the player playing in the NHL. Once an NHL player has played in a certain amount of games or is a certain number of seasons from signing his first NHL contract (see Exemptions from regular waivers), the player must be offered to all of the other NHL teams before he is assigned to a minor leagueMinor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...
affiliate. The 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) applies the assignment waivers only to loans from an NHL club to its American Hockey League
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
(AHL) affiliate.
After a player has been designated for assignment, the other 29 NHL teams have 24 hours to put in a claim or waive their claim for that player. The claims process starts at noon New York time and waivers may only be requested from Monday at noon until Thursday at noon (to clear at Friday noon). If only one team makes a claim for the player, then he will be transferred to the claiming team. If more than one team makes a claim, then the player will be transferred to the team having the lowest percentage of possible points in league standings at the time of the request for waivers. If waivers are requested outside of the playing season, or before November 1, then the player shall be transferred to the team with the lowest points in the preceding season. If no team places a claim the player can be sent to a minor league affiliate.
When a player clears waivers and is sent down and then is called up again, he does not have to clear waivers to be sent down again unless he's played ten games or been "up" for 30 days.
Re-entry waivers
The 2005 NHL-NHLPA collective bargaining agreement introduced re-entry waivers. With limited exceptions, any player who was subject to waivers before assignment to the minors must clear re-entry waivers before being called back up if said player is on a one-way contract or a two-way contractTwo-way contract
A two-way contract is a professional sports contract which stipulates that an athlete’s salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play in...
with an AHL salary in excess of $105,000. Exceptions are players who have played in over 320 professional games (180 for goaltenders) and have not spent more than 80 games on an NHL roster in the past two seasons or 40 games during the previous season. The procedure to make a claim on re-entry waivers is the same; however, teams who claim players on re-entry waivers are only responsible for half the salary and cap hit, while the original team is responsible for the other half, unless the claimed player is later assigned to the AHL again before his contract has expired, in which case, the salary and cap hit comes off the books of both teams.
Return waivers
Players who play ice hockey outside of North America during a regular season and who are not on loan from a NHL club must also be placed on waivers if they are signed to play in the NHL. If the player is picked up by another NHL club on waivers, the player must be placed on waivers again before a further trade or loan can take place.Unconditional waivers
A third type of waivers, unconditional waivers, applies when a player is to be given an unconditional release from his contract. NHL teams give notice to the player and the league that they intend to buy-out a player's rights under the terms of the CBA. In this case, the waiver period is 48 hours. These waivers can only be requested during two periods:- Between June 15, or 48 hours after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final series if it ends later, and June 30 of each year.
- If a club has team- or player-elected salary arbitration cases, within 48 hours of the last arbitration award or settlement of the last arbtration case prior to the arbitration hearing.
Use of waivers in salary cap era
Salaries of players playing for an NHL team count against its salary capNHL Salary Cap
The NHL Salary Cap is the limit to the total amount of money that National Hockey League teams are allowed to pay their players and uses a "hard" cap, meaning there are no luxury taxes or exemptions....
, while the salaries of players playing for a team's minor league affiliates do not. NHL teams have waived players with high salaries, thereby freeing up salary cap space for other signings. In 2010, Wade Redden
Wade Redden
Wade Redden is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing in the New York Rangers organization for its American Hockey League affiliate, the Connecticut Whale. He joined the New York Rangers in 2008 after 11 seasons with the Ottawa Senators...
of the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
, Sheldon Souray
Sheldon Souray
Sheldon Sharik Souray is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League . He has previously played for the Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, who originally drafted him 71st overall in 1994, and the Montreal Canadiens...
of the Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....
, and Jeff Finger
Jeff Finger
Jeff Finger is an American professional ice hockey defenseman currently playing for the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.-Playing career:...
of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
were all assigned to their team's American Hockey League
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
affiliate without any other team putting in a claim.
In a more interesting case, following the 2011 NHL preseason, forward Sean Avery
Sean Avery
Sean Christopher Avery is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League . He formerly played for the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, Dallas Stars and New York Rangers. Prior to the NHL, Avery played for the Owen Sound Platers and the...
of the New York Rangers was waived to the American Hockey League. As Avery had been claimed off re-entry waivers from the Dallas Stars, the cap hit had been split between the Rangers and Stars, but when Avery was demoted to the AHL again, the cap hit came off both teams' books. As a result, Stars, who had been using Avery's re-entry waiver loss to reach the salary floor for the season, had to trade for winger Eric Nystrom
Eric Nystrom
Eric Nystrom is an American ice hockey left winger for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League . He was a first round selection by the Flames, 10th overall, in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. In addition to the Flames, Nystrom was a member of the Minnesota Wild before joining the Stars...
to reach the salary floor.
If a National Hockey League player is being sent to an NHL affiliate team (AHL) and is put through waivers and cleared successfully, then his salary won't count against the respective NHL team’s salary cap (but he would still get paid his full salary, he would be making X amount to play in the AHL). There is an exception to this rule; if the player has a contract that took effect after a player's 35th birthday, then that player's salary would still count against the NHL cap.
If a player is claimed on waivers, then the claiming team is responsible for the rest of their contract. However if a player clears waivers and is sent down to the minors, but then recalled, and his salary is more than $105,000 in the AHL (essentially, any player who is not on an entry-level or two-way contract), he is subject to re-entry waivers where if a team claims him they are only responsible for half the salary for the remainder of the contract.