With all the talk of the Canucks working young players into their lineups next season, this seems like a good time to go over the league's waiver rules. It's a bit of a soup working through all the clauses and conditions, but hopefully what I've laid out here will help to clarify which players the Canucks will be able to send down to Utica next season without exposing them to waivers, and which one will be at risk.
CapGeek used to have an excellent waiver calculator that made it easy to determine a player's waiver status but for now, it seems like we're on our own. So let's go back to the original source material—the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The pertinent section starts
here, on page 71.
The bare bones: waiver eligibility is determined by three factors: a player's age, the number of NHL games he has played, and the number of years that have passed since he signed his first NHL contract.
Here's the basic breakdown:
Goalies who are 20 or under become subject to waivers after playing 80 NHL games.
After that, the eligibility number drops to 60 games for players who also meet these conditions:
- 21 and 22-year-olds who signed their first NHL contracts at least four seasons previously (basically, all 21-year-olds and the 22-year-olds who first signed at 18)
- 23-year-olds who signed their first NHL contracts at least three seasons previously (by age 20)
- 24-year-olds who signed their first NHL contract at least two seasons previously (by age 22)
Goalies who are 25 or older become waiver eligible one year after signing their first NHL contracts.
The numbers are different for skaters:
Skaters who are 20 or under become subject to waivers after playing 160 NHL games.
After that, the eligibility numbers drop by age:
- a 21-year-old who signed his first NHL contract three years previously (at age 18) becomes waiver eligible after 80 NHL games
- a 22-year-old who signed his first NHL contract at least three years previously (by age 19) becomes waiver eligible after 70 NHL games
- a 23-year-old who signed his first NHL contract at least three years previously (by age 20) becomes waiver eligible after 60 NHL games
- a 24-year-old who signed his first NHL contract at least two years previously (by age 22) becomes waiver elgibile after 60 NHL games
Like goalies, skaters who are 25 or older become waiver eligible one year after signing their first NHL contracts.
Games totals include regular season and playoffs.
So, where do the Canucks' young players stand on that chart?
Goalies:
Jacob Markstrom: 25 years old, six NHL seasons, 50 NHL games - waiver eligible
Richard Bachman: 27 years old, five NHL seasons, 42 NHL games - waiver eligible
Skaters:
Sven Baertschi: 22 years old, four NHL seasons, 71 NHL games - now waiver eligible - he remained exempt last season because he signed his entry-level deal in July of 2011, when he was 18, but only played five games in his first season. There are some exceptions to the basic chart for the players who sign at a very young age and don't immediately become NHL regulars.
Linden Vey: 23 years old, two NHL seasons, 94 NHL games - signed his entry-level deal on May 23, 2011, so he completed his three years of waiver exemption before joining the Canucks last season
Bo Horvat: 20 years old, one NHL season, 74 NHL games - waiver exempt for another 86 games
Ronalds Kenins: 24 years old, one NHL season, 35 NHL games - signed first deal July 2013 - two years ago - so he'll require waivers as he enters his third NHL season
**EDIT - NOT SURE ON THIS ONE - BelcherBD suggests that the seasons are calculated based on the year that the contract is first signed, rather than current age. If that's the case, he could have one more waiver-eligible year, which will end when he plays his 70th NHL game.
**ANOTHER EDIT (thanks Bryndog): Alex Grenier: 23 years old, 0 NHL seasons. He has played in the minors for three seasons but didn't sign his entry-level contract till April of 2013, so he has only played two years off an NHL contract. He should be waiver exempt for one more year.
Adam Clendening: 22 years old, one NHL season, 21 NHL games - signed entry-level deal May 31, 2012 - three years ago - so he'll require waivers as he enters his fourth NHL season
Frank Corrado: 22 years old, three NHL seasons, 32 NHL games - signed entry-level September 23, 2011, when he was 18, but didn't play till he was 19, so he got an exemption that's similar to Baertschi's. He has now played in three NHL seasons, so he'll be waiver-eligible next season.
Alex Biega (age 27) and Taylor Fedun (age 27) are also both waiver-eligible.
The rest of the youngsters who are AHL eligible are waiver exempt That means it'll be tougher for them to stick on the Canucks roster unless Benning makes more trades or is otherwise willing to dispose of players, since he can easily stash them in Utica without worrying about the possibility of losing them.
That list includes:
Forwards: Brendan Gaunce (21), Hunter Shinkaruk (20), Cole Cassels (20)
Defense: Andrey Pedan (22), Jordan Subban (20), Anton Cederholm (20)
To wrap up today,
Canucks Army also has a couple of notes on the Canucks prospects who spent last season with Kalamazoo of the ECHL:
• Curtis Valk is another player who is seemingly still injured. Valk hurt his knee while playing for Kalamazoo, which ended his season. It appears he was not on the ice for the 3-on-3 prospect tournament this week, nor participating in the Grouse Grind (similar to Thatcher Demko). Shout out to @Sarah_Hobday for spotting it.
• Dane Fox is spending his off-season working on his skating and will attend the main Canucks camp this September. Fox is aiming for an NHL position but hopes to at least be in Utica for the year.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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