NHL waiver draft

Summary

The NHL waiver draft was an annual draft held by the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1977 to 2003. A reworked version of the NHL intra-league draft, the waiver draft was created to help address the league's competitive balances issues and the financial issues some of the expansion teams added in the preceding ten years were undergoing. It was not held during the 1979–80 and 1991–92 seasons due to the 1979 merger with the World Hockey Association and the 1991 NHL dispersal and expansion drafts, respectively. It was discontinued as a result of the collective bargaining agreement that was reached to end the 2004–05 NHL lockout. Over the course of 25 waiver drafts, 231 selections were made and 240 players total changed teams.