NHL Waiver Wire

Gustav Lindstrom(RD)|MON
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
Anaheim has claimed Gustav Lindstrom off waivers from the Montreal Canadiens.

Lindstrom was dealt to Montreal in the offseason alongside a 2025 fourth-round pick for Jeff Petry but has struggled to find his footing in his first season with the Canadiens and will now join the Anaheim Ducks after being claimed from waivers on Wednesday. The 25-year-old carries a $950,000 cap hit and had three goals, an assist, 15 SOG and six PIMs in 14 games played before his waiving.

Source:
Elliotte Friedman 2024-01-10T19:09:23.566Z
Gustav Lindstrom
Gustav Lindstrom(RD)|MON
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
Montreal has placed Gustav Lindstrom on waivers Tuesday.

Lindstrom was dealt to Montreal in the offseason alongside a 2025 fourth-round pick for Jeff Petry but has struggled to find his footing in his first season with the Canadiens' and was placed on waivers Tuesday. The 25-year-old carries a $950,000 cap hit and had three goals, and assist, 15 SOG and six PIMs in 14 games played prior to his waiving.

Source:
Montreal Canadiens 2024-01-09T19:00:17.926Z
Gustav Lindstrom
Kevin Rooney(C)|FA
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
Calgary has waived Kevin Rooney (shoulder) on Monday after he was activated from the Injured Reserve.

Rooney had an assist, 14 SOG, seven PIMs and a -2 plus/minus through 17 games played with Calgary in 2022-23 but has been forced to miss all of the 2023-24 season thus far as he remains out of the lineup from off-season shoulder surgery.

Source:
Elliotte Friedman 2024-01-08T19:45:39.881Z
Kevin Rooney
Zach Sanford(LW)|FA
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
Arizona has placed Zach Sanford on waivers Friday.

Sanford has played 12 games for the Coyotes this season, recording two points (0G / 2A) and a +2 plus/minus rating. If the career journeyman goes unclaimed, he will return to the Tuscon Roadrunners of the AHL, where he has four points (1G / 3A) in 16 games this season.

Source:
Craig Morgan 2024-01-05T20:00:34.293Z
Zach Sanford
Jaycob Megna(D)|FA
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
Chicago has claimed Jaycob Megna from the Seattle Kraken.

The Kraken placed Megna on waivers Tuesday but he did not clear and has been claimed by the Blackhawks. Megna has spent most of the season in the press box for the Kraken, being limited to only two games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, scoring one point (1G / 0A). He has 141 NHL games under his belt, tallying 25 points (4G / 21A) in time split between the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, and Seattle.

Source:
Elliotte Friedman 2024-01-03T19:09:28.670Z
Jaycob Megna
Tobias Bjornfot(D)|FLA
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
Los Angeles has placed Tobias Bjornfot on waivers Wednesday.

Bjornfot has not played a game for the Kings since their season opener when he recorded one block in 10:12 time-on-ice. He has been placed on unconditional waivers and, if he goes unclaimed, will join the Ontario Reign (AHL), where he has scored zero points in nine games this season.

Source:
LA Kings 2024-01-03T18:24:15.020Z
Tobias Bjornfot
Michael Hutchinson(G)|FA
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
Detroit has placed Michael Hutchinson on waivers Thursday.

With Alex Lyon returning from an upper-body injury, the Red Wings will roll with him and James Reimer, prompting the team to place Hutchinson on waivers to be reassigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins. In one game with the Red Wings, Hutchinson saved 33 of 36 shots (.917 SV%) in a 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils last week.

Source:
Elliotte Friedman 2023-12-28T19:11:42.893Z
Michael Hutchinson
Tyson Jost(C)|FA
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
The Buffalo Sabres have placed Tyson Jost on waivers Thursday.

Jost drew into the Sabres lineup on Wednesday after Tage Thompson was a last-minute scratch due to personal reasons and has now been placed on waivers. Jost played 6:53 time-on-ice, recording a +1 plus/minus, and one shot on goal.

Source:
Elliotte Friedman 2023-12-28T19:13:58.726Z
Tyson Jost
Ryan Shea(D)|PIT
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
Pittsburgh has placed Ryan Shea on waivers Monday.

Shea has been a regular in the lineup for the Penguins this season but has been a healthy scratch for the last three games. His placement on unconditional waivers coincides with Chad Ruhwedel preparing to return to the Penguins lineup and Pierre-Olivier Joseph returning last week.

Source:
Chris Johnston 2023-12-18T19:22:24.851Z
Ryan Shea
Lucas Johansen(D)|FA
Waiver Move
Waiver Move
Washington has placed Lucas Johansen on waivers.

Johansen was the 28th overall pick of the Washington Capitals in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and has remained with the organization the entire time, playing predominantly with the Hershey Bears of the AHL. He has played nine total games with the Capitals in his career, including six this season, tallying one point (0G / 1A) and a +1 plus/minus.

Source:
Chris Johnston 2023-12-18T19:15:09.631Z
Lucas Johansen

NHL Waiver Wire

The NHL implemented the waiver wire to uphold a “competitive balance” in the league. Before the waiver wire, clubs hoarded players and ensured their opponents couldn’t access them. Those players would get sent to the minors and basically get buried, stunting any chance for them to make a name for themselves in the big league. As you can imagine, not only was hoarding players in the minors a hindrance to other teams, but it was also a hindrance to the players themselves. Eventually, things had to change, and that’s when the NHL waiver wire came into play: no longer can a player be buried in the minors (unless nobody wants them).

Types of Waivers

Nevertheless, the NHL wavier wire can be a bit nuanced to a newcomer. Don’t worry, we break it down and do a quick deep dive into the nuts and bolts.

Regular NHL Waivers

Teams will use what NHL executives call “regular waivers” to move players to the minors. Players on entry-level contracts are usually waiver wire exempt, which means teams can send them up and down as they please without risking them being claimed by another team. Players who aren’t waiver wire exempt will usually make the headlines since they can be placed on waivers. Most players playing in the minors are waiver wire exempt. That’s why they get sent up and down so freely throughout the course of a season. Obviously, it’s on a case-by-case basis.

Return Waivers

“Re-entry waivers” used to exist before the NHL and the NHLPA eliminated the clause in the 2012 collective bargaining agreement. The clause was originally put in place because some teams would bury players in the minors, hoping they would pick up their game a bit and call them back up. If such a great thing happened, the team could call them back up without penalty. Too many teams learned to hoard players, so to encourage fairness and do right by the players, the return or “re-entry waivers process” was implemented. When ironing out a new CBA, both sides wanted to tinker with the waiver wire process. A part of that tinkering was getting rid of “re-entry waivers.”

Unconditional Waivers

When a team puts a player on unconditional waivers, it’s usually because the team wants to terminate their contract or buy them out. A contract termination can come about because a player breached their contract. In other words, as a disciplinary action. The more common form is a buyout. The player didn’t breach their contract; it’s just the management most likely determined the player sucks and wants to get rid of as much of the player’s cap hit as humanly possible.

A Quick Word On One and Two-Way Contracts

There’s a common misconception that NHL fans make when referring to one and two-way contracts. What some fans think is if a player is on a one-way deal, they can’t be sent to the minors without going through waivers. Players who are signed to two-way deals can be sent back and forth to the minors freely. Without getting too far into the nuts and bolts, that’s not always the case. You can blame EA Sports’ “Be A GM” mode for that belief.

Generally, a one-way deal ensures that players’ salaries remain the same whether they’re in the minors or the NHL. For example, if a goalie makes $3.55 million in the NHL and gets sent down to the AHL because he couldn’t stop a beach ball, he’ll still make the full $3.55 million in the minors. A player who’s on a two-way contract makes a higher salary in the NHL and a lower one in the AHL. One and two-way deals don’t solely determine waiver wire eligibility.

Time Restrictions Around NHL Waivers

The waiver wire goes into effect 12 days before the start of the regular season and lasts until the day after a team’s regular season is over. Any moves after that are more or less off the books unless certain conditions are met. Then, things get tricky.

When a player gets put on the waiver wire, there’s a 24-hour period where other NHL teams can determine if they want to take a shot on the player and their contract. If a team wants to take a leap of faith and claim the forsaken player, they must wait and see which other teams make a claim. If the worst team in the league (based on the current standings and future projections) makes a claim and the best team also bites on the waived player, the worst team will get the player in the name of “fairness.”

It’s not very often that many teams make a claim on a single player because most teams use the waiver wire to clear cap space. That said, it does happen once or twice a season when a good team is forced to make a tough decision on a decent player.

Strategy Behind NHL Waivers

There are many reasons why NHL transactions will revolve around waiver wire moves. Below, we compiled those reasons and sought to explain the strategy behind each.

Salary Cap

As we alluded to earlier, most players are put on waivers because they’re not living up to their contracts. The front office of the team they play for wants to bury the contract in the minors to open up room for someone who’s worth the money. It’s a harsh truth, but the NHL is a business, and everyone is always looking for a good return on investment. If a player sucks, sometimes that’s what needs to happen, no matter how difficult it might be to pull off.

Contract Termination

For players who are on longer deals, burying them in the minors for the duration of their contract might not be worthwhile. It might just be easier to buy them out or even terminate their contract. Most of the time, when a player gets bought out, the team buying out the player must still pay a cap penalty. That said, it’s usually preferable for NHL executives rather than eating the cap hit and being unable to bolster their team via trades and free agency.

Bad contracts in the NHL are a dime a dozen, so front offices use things like unconditional waivers to move on from their mistakes. Of course, they still take a fat L, but in the same sense, they’ll get some flexibility and a chance to move on. So too does the player.

Moves to the Minor League

At the end of the day, all an NHL general manager really wants to do is send a player to the minors because they’re underperforming. It just so happens the player isn’t waiver wire exempt, and that’s the way she goes. Mind you, in those situations, many people in the front office will know that these players are less likely to get claimed because their value is limited to other teams. In that sense, NHL front offices will feel more comfortable making those moves.

Let’s be honest, even if these players get claimed, odds are they’ll be back on the waiver wire at some point during the season, in which they can be reclaimed. If not, as crappy as this may sound, the player is replaceable.