You can tell a team is ageing, er, getting more mature, when they have very few players who are waiver exempt. As the number of prospects dwindles and the number of older depth skaters rises, the waiver wire gets a workout. Today marks the first day NHL teams can place players on waivers for the purpose of assignment to the minor leagues. Or for any other purpose, of course.
Occasionally, a team is waiving a player because they genuinely want some other team to claim him, but usually they just need to put him in the AHL. While some players will get cut to the minors as early as today, most of the cuts will happen closer to October 1, which is the date on which all NHL teams must have a cap-compliant, maximum 23-man roster by 5 p.