With the news today that the Philadelphia Flyers have placed goalie Calvin Pickard on waivers, the Leafs can choose to claim him back if they want to.
If the Leafs make a claim, and they are the only team to claim him, he would be considered to have cleared waivers and they can send him directly to the AHL. Pickard’s time with the Flyers has been difficult, with his performance behind a defensively porous team coming up very short of expectations.
It seems unlikely that any team would claim him intending to play him in the NHL, even as a backup.