While the trade deadline has come and gone, there will still be quite a few transactions made between now and the end of the season. However, many of those have new restrictions placed on them which are as follows.
Waivers
Teams can still waive players after the trade deadline. However, if they’re claimed, the player is automatically ineligible to play for the remainder of the season. We will likely still see some waiver activity closer to the end of the year if a player who is on recall and is AHL playoff-eligible needs to clear to return to the minors.
Trades
While the term ‘trade deadline’ would imply a hard cap on trades now, that’s not the case. However, similar to players claimed on waivers post-deadline, those players are ineligible to play down the stretch. Over the next week, we will likely see a player or two traded for future considerations to add someone for their AHL team; their trade deadline is exactly one week after the NHL deadline on March 14. Rights to unsigned players will also likely be moved in the coming weeks.
Signings
A player not on an NHL reserve list that signs can play down the stretch during the regular season but is ineligible to play in the playoffs. We see this typically with college free agent signings who get into a game or two for the stretch run, but technically a player on an AHL contract can sign an NHL deal and play with that team until the playoffs.
AHL Eligibility
For a player to be assigned to the minors, that player must have been on an AHL roster at the trade deadline. Otherwise, even if the player is waiver-exempt, he is ineligible to play in the minors. An exception can be made for a player needing a conditioning loan from a long-term injury. This rule is why there were so many ‘paper transactions’, moves to put a player in the minors before the deadline to keep them eligible to play there down the stretch.
Recalls
This is the one that comes into play the most after the deadline. Teams are limited to four non-emergency recalls between now and the end of the season. Players recalled from paper transactions count against the four, so several teams will have less than four to work with immediately.
An emergency situation is created when a team has fewer than 12 healthy forwards, six healthy defensemen, or two healthy goaltenders available. In those cases, a player can be recalled under emergency conditions if the team has cap space to do so. However, when that team gets the injured player(s) back, the recalled player must return to the minors. Otherwise, his recall is converted from an emergency one to a regular one and would count against the limit of four.
Pretty much every team will still be involved in transactions of some sort over the next few weeks, but they’ll have to be mindful of these restrictions when they make them.
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