Now that the NHL season has concluded, it doesn’t take long for the off-season to kick into gear. The NHL draft begins next week on Thursday July 7th. A few days after that the free agent market opens on July 13th.
Prior to those events is a way to clear salary cap space when the NHL’s first buyout window runs from July 1 to 5 p.m. on July 12. Players have to clear unconditional waivers before they can be bought out, so they may begin to show up on waivers as early as June 30th. If a player has a full no move clause in their contract, they can elect to skip the waiver process and proceed directly to the buyout.