At 4:41 PM, February 26, 2007, Nick said...

The Wings lost their number three (or maybe number four) goalie yesterday because he was place on waivers... I never really understood how the waiver system (or whatever you call it) works... I wasn't able to find much info on the net either. Any chance you could break it down for us, James?

Here's a quick rundown, in plain English, of how the NHL's waiver system works (for the original post on the nine players placed on waivers this afternoon, see here).

Essentially any player that has three professional seasons since signing his first contract, or who has played 180+ NHL games, must go through waivers before going to the AHL. The waiver system allows all 29 other NHL clubs to pick up that player, with teams lower down in the standings taking precedence over those at the top.

Players are on waivers for two days, and if they go unclaimed, they're off to the minors.

If they go to the minors and then return to the NHL club, players don't have to pass through waivers again unless they've been with the big club for 10+ games or 30+ days.