<P> Waivers is a National Hockey League (NHL) labor management procedure by which an NHL team makes a professional ice hockey player's contract and rights available to all other NHL teams . Other NHL teams "waive" any claim to a player designated for assignment in the American Hockey League (AHL) or designated for release . The process is typically referred to as "being placed on waivers ." </P> <P> In the NHL, each player signs what is, or is a variation of, a standard NHL player's contract . The contract specifies that the team has exclusive rights to the player playing in the NHL . Once an NHL player has played in a certain number of games or a set number of seasons has passed since the signing of his first NHL contract (see here), that player must be offered to all of the other NHL teams before he can be assigned to a minor league affiliate . In the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) assignment waivers applies only to loans from an NHL club to its American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate . </P> <P> After a player has been designated for assignment, the other 30 NHL teams can put in a claim or waive their claim for that player . The claims process starts at noon Eastern Time and ends 24 hours later . If only one team makes a claim for the player, then he will be transferred to the claiming team . If more than one team makes a claim, then the player will be transferred to the team having the lowest percentage of possible points in league standings at the time of the request for waivers . When a waiver claim has been secured, the claiming team must pay a transfer fee to the original club, though this fee is not counted against the salary cap . If waivers are requested outside the playing season, or before November 1, then the player shall be transferred to the team with the lowest points in the preceding season . If no team places a claim, the player can be sent to a minor league affiliate . </P>

When does an nhl player have to clear waivers