Waiver Move
The Lightning have claimed Chris DiDomenico off of waivers from the Senators.
NHL Hockey Player News
Waiver Move
The Senators have claimed Gabriel Dumont off of waivers from the Lightning.
Waiver Move
The Canucks have placed Anton Rodin on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract.
Waiver Move
The Canadiens have claimed Antti Niemi off of waivers from the Panthers.
Niemi opened the season in Pittsburgh but was claimed off of waivers when Roberto Luongo was hurt and now that he is back, Niemi was waived again and claimed by Montreal who are currently without Carey Price and Al Montoya. Niemi is likely just insurance and will be nothing more than Charlie Lindgren’s backup. He heads to Montreal with a 6.74 GAA and .822 SV% in give games this season. Yikes.
Waiver Move
The Panthers have claimed Antti Niemi off of waivers from the Penguins.
Waiver Move
The Canadiens have placed Mark Streit on waivers.
Streit was a healthy scratch for the last two games and was placed on waivers this afternoon, so it looks like his time with the Canadiens will be cut short after just two games. At this point, letting Andrei Markov walk in favour of fellow veteran Streit isn’t looking so good for Montreal.
Waiver Move
The Rangers have claimed Adam Cracknell off of waivers from the Stars.
Cracknell played 8:35 TOI in the Stars’ second game of the season and was placed on waivers shortly after. He’ll join the Rangers where he will be in a similar role of depth forward. He had 10 goals and six assists (16 points) in 69 games with Dallas a season ago.
The Avalanche have claimed Patrik Nemeth off of waivers from the Stars.
Nemeth has appeared in 108 NHL games and 57 AHL games with the Stars organization since 2013-14. Last season he had just three assists in 40 games with Dallas. The 25-year-old will likely serve as a No.7 defenseman in Colorado.
Waiver Move
The Golden Knights have claimed Malcolm Subban off of waivers from the Bruins.
Subban has struggled to find his way since being drafted No.24 overall in 2012. The 23-year-old has only appeared in two NHL games and is coming off of a year in which he was 11-14-1 with a 2.41 GAA and .917 SV% in 32 games with Providence (AHL). Subban will have to stay in the NHL, so Vegas may roll with three netminders.
Waiver Move
The Canucks have claimed Joseph Cramarossa off of waivers from Anaheim.
Cramarossa, 24, was a third round pick in 2011 (No. 65 overall) and has recorded 10 points (4G / 6A) in 49 games with the Ducks this season. Cramarossa could make his Canucks’ debut in San Jose on Thursday.
Waiver Move
The Blue Jackets have claimed Zac Dalpe off of waivers from Minnesota.
Dalpe, 27, has one goal and two assists (three points) in nine games with Minnesota and two goals in 12 AHL games. Dalpe will report to Cleveland (AHL).
Waiver Move
The Blues reclaimed Ty Rattie off of waivers from Carolina and sent him to Chicago (AHL).
Waiver Move
The Sabres have claimed Derek Grant off of waivers from Nashville.
Waiver Move
The Maple Leafs have claimed Alexey Marchenko off of waivers from the Red Wings.
Marchenko was a healthy scratch for the last five games and has recorded just six assists in 30 games this season. With Brendan Smith returning to action on Saturday, the Red Wings had to waive a defenseman and Marchenko was the casualty. Marchenko played under Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock in 2014-15.
Waiver Move
The Avalanche have claimed Mark Barberio off of waivers from the Canadiens.
Barberio had four assists in 26 games with the Canadiens this season and 31 points (8G / 23A) in 159 career NHL games with the Lightning and Canadiens. Barberio has great underlying numbers and maybe a stop with the lowly Avalanche is what he needs to get a full-time chance.
The Devils have claimed Stefan Noesen off of waivers from Anaheim.
Noesen, 23, was a first round pick in 2011 (21st overall) and has only appeared in 14 NHL games since. Noesen posted two goals in 12 games with the Ducks prior to being waived. The Texas native had 15 points (6G / 9A) in 22 games with San Diego (AHL) before he was called up.
Waiver Move
The Maple Leafs have reclaimed Seth Griffith off of waivers from Florida and sent him to Toronto (AHL).
Griffith picked up five assists in 21 games with the Panthers after being claimed from Toronto earlier in the year. The 24-year-old has great hands, but the consensus seems to be that he doesn’t have the speed to be a regular NHLer. Griffith will head to the AHL—he had 77 points (24G / 53A) in 57 AHL games with Providence last season.
Waiver Move
The Predators have claimed Brad Hunt off of waivers from St. Louis.
The Predators are without their top two defenseman, P.K. Subban and Roman Josi, so adding Hunt just adds some much-needed depth right now. Hunt played well with the Blues, scoring one goal with four assists (five points) in nine games before being a healthy scratch for three games and ultimately being waived.
Waiver Move
The Predators have claimed Derek Grant off of waivers from Buffalo.
Grant has picked up three assists and 19 penalty minutes across 35 games with the Sabres this season. The Sabers will planning to send him to Rochester (AHL), but the Predators have added some depth to their fourth line and sent Frederik Gauthier to Milwaukee (AHL).
Waiver Move
The Maple Leafs have claimed Curtis McElhinney off of waivers from Columbus.
McElhinney has gone 2-1-2 with a 2.39 GAA and .924 SV% in just seven appearances (five starts) this season, but had one of the worst seasons of his career a year ago and has a sub-par career .905 SV%. The Maple Leafs clearly wanted Antoine Bibeau in the AHL and the veteran McElhinney is a low-cost option to backup Frederik Andersen, who will see the vast majority of starts in the second half.
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.