A Tutorial on Waivers: which Preds require them, which ones don't

There was quite a bit of discussion yesterday with the Cody Franson recall about Alexander Sulzer, and why, or why he wasn't, recalled instead. I thought a quick post here can serve as a reference for the rest of the season, as I'll bet we're going to see a few more transactions between the Predators and the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals over the next several months.

1-Way vs. 2-Way Contracts

First off, let's get the issue of 1-way vs. 2-way contracts out of the way. Please understand that these have nothing to do with whether a player has to go through waivers on the way to or from the AHL. A 1-way contract simply means that a player makes the same salary whether he's in Nashville or Milwaukee, while a 2-way deal means he has separate salaries based on where he's playing. For example, Ryan Jones earned a 1-way contract this season, while Cal O'Reilly, in his new deal, has a 2-way salary this year (he makes $550,000 in the NHL, but $105,000 in the AHL), but a 1-way salary next season (at $575,000).

So with his $650,000 1-way contract, Alexander Sulzer had better be buying the boys some nice dinners down in Milwaukee.

Typically, 2-way contracts are for young players who haven't proven themselves to be NHL regulars yet, so many players on 2-way deals are easily sent back and forth, but older veterans who may not be a lock for the NHL roster (like Dave Scatchard recently) may also get them as well.

Waivers

Waivers apply to players based on their age and experience in the NHL and AHL (European league experience doesn't count). The idea here is that once you have enough pro experience, if your NHL team doesn't want you, then at least you deserve an opportunity for the rest of the league to claim you. The waiver period starts 12 days prior to the start of the regular season, which is why everyone watches the waiver wire close to the end of training camp, to see if a useful player becomes available.

Perhaps the best example of that came last year at this time, when Detroit had to waive defenseman Kyle Quincey. The L.A. Kings picked him up, and he became the team's top-scoring defenseman.

The Preds were good enough to send me the following list of players currently on the Nashville roster, who would have to go through waivers if they were to be sent to Milwaukee:

So who's not on this list, and can be shuttled safely back and forth? That would be Cody Franson, Patrick Hornqvist, Ryan Jones, Teemu Laakso, and Colin Wilson.

If a waiver-eligible player is recalled from Milwaukee (like Triston Grant or Cal O'Reilly already this year), there is a 30-day window within which the Preds can send them back down without having to clear waivers again.