WAIVERS AND RE-ENTRY WAIVERS

The waiver eligibility of players has become a much-discussed (and ill-informed) topic recently. The following will attempt to answer some of the common questions regarding who doesn’t have to clear waivers and who does. Before I get into the details of the waiver process and how to determine when a player is or isn’t eligible, let’s kill off a few long-held assumptions:

-- “The waiver status of a player is determined by whether he has a 1-way or 2-way contract.”
Answer: False. Whether a player has a 1-way or 2-way contract has absolutely no effect on his waiver status – it has to do with the number of years since the player signed his first NHL contract and the number of NHL games he’s played since signing. In fact, there are ten (10) players who have 1-way contracts for 2007-08 and are exempt from waivers.

-- “The AHL salary of a player determines whether he’s subject to waivers.”
Answer: False. That is a potential consideration for recall waivers, which is discussed below.

-- “If a team claims a player on waivers, they drop to the bottom of the waiver list.”
Answer: False. There is nothing in Article 13 that stipulates this.

Waivers – General Guidelines

1. Every year is treated as a new year with respect to waivers – so a player who was waived [and cleared] in 2006-07 and was not recalled at any point during the season will have to re-clear waivers to be assigned in 2007-08.
2. If a player cleared waivers and is subsequently recalled during the same year, he does not have to clear waivers again unless he has either played 10 or more NHL games or has spent 30 or more days on an NHL roster since last clearing. Otherwise, he will have to re-clear waivers to be assigned.
3. A player who is being bought out or designated for unconditional release must first be offered on waivers, and any team that claims the player accepts the contract “as is” with no adjustments.
4. Players designated for a conditioning assignment are not subject to waivers, regardless of their waiver status; such assignments may not be longer than fourteen (14) days.
5. Players who start the NHL season in Europe, then sign to play in the NHL must clear waivers prior to joining the team they signed with.  This has happened perhaps 3 times under the current CBA - Vladimir Orszagh in 2005-06 [signed with Phoenix, claimed by St. Louis], Todd Simpson in 2006-07 [signed with NY Islanders, but denied ability to play due to being suspended in Germany and NHL honoring suspension], and Randy Robitaille in 2007-08 [signed with Ottawa, currently on waivers to join NHL].

So … who is exempt from waivers, and who isn’t?

“NHL Games Played” = Regular Season GP + Playoff GP

Age = age when signing 1^st NHL contract as described in Article 8 
 -- for 90% of players, this is largely true … but there are exceptions. When I’ve completely figured this out, I’ll post details on exactly how it works.

* - If a player plays in 11 or more NHL games at age 18 or 19, the exemption period shall drop to 4 years for goalies and 3 years for skaters with the first year playing in 11+ games counting as the 1^st year, and the following years counting toward the exemption regardless of if the player plays in the NHL.

Again ... players sent to the minors on conditioning assignments do not have to clear waivers.

Examples:

1. Sidney Crosby signed an entry-level contract at age 18 and was exempt from waivers for 5 years or 160 NHL games played, but in 2005-06 played in 81 regular-season games and in 2006-07 played in 79 regular season and 6 playoff games. He is no longer exempt from waivers, having played in at least 160 NHL games.
2. Cam Barker signed an entry-level contract at age 19 and was exempt from waivers for 4 years or 160 NHL games played. He played in only 1 NHL game in 2005-06 and in 35 NHL games in 2006-07, so he remains exempt from waivers until the earlier of him playing 160 NHL games or the end of the 2008-09 season [whichever comes first].
3. Antero Niittymaki signed his first NHL contract in 2002 at age 22. He was exempt from waivers for 4 years or until he played in 60 NHL games, meaning the last year of exemption was 2005-06. Starting with the 2006-07 season, he was required to clear waivers to be assigned to the minors.
4. Jason Bacashihua signed his first NHL contract in 2001 at age 19. He was exempt from waivers for 5 years or until he played in 80 NHL games, meaning the last year of exemption was 2005-06. Starting with the 2006-07 season, he was required to clear waivers to be assigned to the minors.
5. Andrew Ladd signed an entry-level contract in 2005 at age 19. He was exempt from waivers for 4 years or 160 NHL games played, but in 2005-06 played in 46 games (29 regular-season, 18 playoffs) and in 65 regular-season games in 2006-07. He is now exempt until either he plays in 49 NHL games in 2007-08 or the end of the 2007-08 season [whichever comes first].
6. Andrei Taratukhin signed an entry-level contract in 2006 at age 23, but did not play in the NHL in 2006-07. He is exempt from waivers for 3 years or until he plays in 60 NHL games [whichever comes first].
7. Guillaume Latendresse signed an entry-level contract in 2006 at age 19. He would have been exempt from waivers for 4 years; however, he played in 80 NHL games in 2006-07, meaning the exemption was shortened to 3 years. He is now exempt until either the end of the 2008-09 season or he plays in a total of 160 NHL games [whichever comes first].
8. Hannu Toivonen signed an entry-level contract in 2003 at the age of 19, meaning he was exempt from waivers for 5 years. Going into the 2007-08 season, he has only played in 38 games and is in his 5^th season, meaning he is exempt from waivers until either the end of the 2007-08 season or he plays in 42 NHL games [whichever comes first]; he will not be exempt from waivers in 2008-09.
9. Cory Murphy signed an entry-level contract in 2007 at the age of 29. He is exempt from waivers for the entire 2007-08 season, but will not be exempt for 2008-09 and beyond.

Q: If more than one team claims a player on waivers, who gets him?
A: It depends on when waivers is requested.

1. If before November 1, then priority is set by the final standings in the prior League’s Regular Season, with the worst team having 1^st priority.
2. If after November 1, then priority is set by the League standings at the time the waiver request is submitted; the team with the lowest percentage of possible points has 1^st priority – meaning that the waiver order can change during the season.

Q: How long is waivers applicable?
A: The waiver period starts from the 12^th day before the start of the Regular Season [for 2007-08, the start of the Regular Season is October 3, 2007 – the games played in London do not count as the start of the season] and end on the day following the last day of a Club’s Playing Season [which means that for playoff teams, waivers may still be necessary while the team is playing; generally, this would apply only to re-entry waiver requests].

Q: How long does it take for a player to clear waivers?
A:  It depends on the day of the week that waivers is requested.

 

 

Re-entry waivers – new to this CBA is the provision that certain players recalled to the NHL must clear waivers to join the team holding his NHL rights; any other team may claim said player for 50% of his cap hit and salary, with the team attempting to recall taking the other 50% of each. In general, players are not subject to re-entry [recall] waivers unless:

1. The player is on a -way contract and is subject to waivers when assigned to the minors; or
2. The player is on a 2-way contract whose minor league salary is in excess of

   2007-08: $100,000
   2008-09: $100,000
   2009-10: $105,000
   2010-11: $105,000
   2011-12: $105,000

      #2 above does not apply to a player who

1. If a goalie, the goalie has played in 180 or more professional games [NHL, AHL, or ECHL; regular season and playoffs] or, if a skater, 320 or more professional games; AND
2. Has not spent more than 80 games on an NHL roster in the prior 2 seasons or 40 or more games on an NHL roster in the immediately prior season.

Notes and explanations

1. As of October 10, 2007 the only players on a 1-way contract who are not subject to waivers [and thus not subject to recall waivers] are
   -- Andrew Greene, NJ
   -- Josh Harding, MIN
   -- Vadim Khomitski, DAL
   -- Ville Koistinen, NSH
   -- Staffan Kronvall, TOR
   -- Joel Lundqvist, DAL
   -- Cory Murphy, FLA [will be exempt for all of 2007-08 only]
   -- Alexander Semin, WSH
   -- Hannu Toivonen, STL
   -- Noah Welch, FLA

2. Any other player on a 1-way contract would be subject to recall waivers … meaning that guys like Denis Gauthier, Nolan Baumgartner, and Petr Cajanek who are in the minors on 1-way contracts would have to clear re-entry waivers to return to their current teams.
3. There are thirty-eight (38) players who have a 2-way contract for 2007-08 and are scheduled to earn in excess of $100,000 at the AHL level this year; of those, only three (3) are subject to recall waivers given the criteria above:
   -- Toby Peterson, DAL [spent almost all of '06-07 on the Edmonton roster]
   -- Luke Richardson, OTT [spent all of '06-07 on the Tampa Bay roster]
   -- Travis Roche, PHX [spent over half of '06-07 on the Phoenix roster]

4. The recall waiver status of a player does not change during the season – so players currently exempt from recall waivers remain exempt for the entire season, and players who are subject to recall waivers remain subject for the entire season.