Waiver Draft A Waste Of Time

Once every season, at probably the worst possible time in the hockey year, the annual waiver draft is held. Teams are required to protect a certain number of players and leave a certain number unprotected. Some players, usually rookies or players with little NHL experience are exempt from the draft meaning they do not require protection. This draft was designed to allow less competitive teams to boost their rosters with quality players just before the start of the season, with the thought in mind that this draft would help to balance the playing field. The reality is; however, this simple approach of suddenly transforming teams like the Atlanta Thrashers into Stanley Cup contenders just does not work and quite frankly, should be scrapped.

First of all, it is very infrequent that players who could potentially make a difference on a team are left available. In the past ten years, the only major acquisition that was made during the waiver draft was when the New York Islanders acquired Chris Osgood from the Detroit Red Wings after the Wings left Osgood available in favour of protecting the newly acquired Dominek Hasek. On the whole, usually eight to ten moves are made each year throughout the league in the waiver draft and even serious hockey fans are left scratching their heads as they try to figure out who these players are and where they came from.

Secondly, bad teams are bad teams usually because of one or two things: lack of team unity or lack of funds preventing the team from acquiring strong players. Neither of these problems, especially the latter, could be addressed during the waiver draft. Think about it! Any player who could potentially make a difference on a mediocre team will either be protected or they will be left available with their hefty salary acting as a deterrent to any under funded team who could not afford to take on such a high salary especially when their budget has been set like most budgets are by this time of year.

Lastly, teams often will protect their core players and especially their prospects as they are cheap and have a ton of upside making them very attractive to under funded teams. This means a solid player, in the Maple Leafs case, Travis Green, will have to be alienated and left unprotected. Bad feelings can develop quite easily in this case between player and team making the waiver draft look even more ridiculous.

I’m not sure why the NHL keeps putting teams and players through this ridiculous and colossal waste of time that we know as the waiver draft. Nothing of any magnitude occurs except once in a while in extreme circumstances. Bad teams do not get better. Good teams do not get worse. All it does is cause bad feelings, bruised egos, and a lot of wasted time!