Vancouver winger Loui Eriksson and Montreal forward Corey Perry were among the players placed on waivers by their NHL clubs as teams worked to get their rosters in order before the start of the season.
Players who clear waivers can be assigned to a team's minor-league affiliate or a taxi squad of four-to-six players.
Taxi-squad players will practise with the NHL club and be available to add to the active roster as late as 5 p.m. ET on game day, essentially extending the size of the team beyond the 23-man limit when teams submit their rosters to the league on Tuesday.
It also allows clubs to get some extra wiggle room, as players will not have their salaries count against the cap while on the taxi squad. Eriksson, for example, carries a cap hit of US$6 million this season.
Waiving a player for purposes of reassignment, of course, is not without risk. The Florida Panthers snapped up defenceman Noah Juulsen after Montreal placed the 2015 first-round pick on waivers.
Forward Sven Baertschi ($3.37-million cap hit) was also placed on waivers by the Canucks, as well as forwards Justin Bailey and Tyler Graovac and defencemen Guillaume Brisebois and Ashton Sautner.
with files from (The Canadian Press)