Waivers in the NHL are a process that allows teams to place players on waivers in order to potentially assign them to a lower league or transfer their contract to another team. When a player is put on waivers, other teams have the option to claim that player and assume both their contract and playing rights. There are different types of waivers in the NHL, including regular waivers, unconditional waivers, and re-entry waivers). Regular waivers are when NHL teams want to send a player down to the AHL, and every other team has the right to claim them. Unconditional waivers would be the next most common type of NHL waiver. When a team puts a player on unconditional waivers, it is done to buy out the players contract and make them a free agent. Re-entry waivers apply to players who were subject to waivers before assignment to the minors and must clear re-entry waivers before being called back up if said player is on a one-way contract or a two-way contract with an AHL salary in excess of $105,000).

Waivers are often used when teams need to make roster changes due to injuries, performance issues, or salary cap constraints. If a player clears waivers, it means that no other team claimed them, and they can be assigned to a lower league team, such as an American Hockey League (AHL) team, without any further restrictions. The NHL waiver rules have been negotiated in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the players and owners.