NHL waiver draft

The NHL waiver draft was an annual draft held by the National Hockey League from 1977 to 2003. A reworked version of the NHL intra-league draft, the waiver draft was created to help address the league's competitive balances issues and the financial issues some of the expansion teams added in the preceding ten years were undergoing. It was not held during the 1979–80 and 1991–92 seasons due to the 1979 merger with the World Hockey Association and the 1991 NHL dispersal and expansion drafts, respectively. It was discontinued as a result of the collective bargaining agreement that was reached to end the 2004–05 NHL lockout. Over the course of 25 waiver drafts, 231 selections were made and 240 players total changed teams.

Rules

The waiver draft was held within a week of the start of the regular season. A few days prior to the waiver draft each NHL club would be required to turn in a list of players to protect from selection. First-year players were exempt from selection, but in later editions of the waiver draft this exemption was changed to players under a certain number of professional hockey seasons played and below a minimum number of NHL games played.
The order of the waiver draft was the reverse of the previous season's standings, the first round always being limited to non-playoff teams. Once a team claimed an unprotected player from another team, that team would be required to drop a player from their protection list and the other team's choice of compensation would be a cash payment or claiming the dropped player.
The number of players a team could lose in the waiver draft was set at three, which would increase by the number of claims made against other teams. By default, team's could only lose a maximum of one goaltender, unless they opted to offer more than one.
The waiver draft concluded when a round was completed with no selections by any team.

Drafts

1977

The 1977 NHL waiver draft was held on October 10, 1977. Three selections were made. Protection lists were released prior to the draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Claimed by	Claimed from	Compensation
1	1	Paul Woods	Detroit Red Wings	Montreal Canadiens	cash
1	2	Dave Forbes	Washington Capitals	Boston Bruins	cash
1	3	Wayne Thomas	New York Rangers	Toronto Maple Leafs	cash

1978

The 1978 NHL waiver draft was held on October 9, 1978. Five selections were made and six players total changed teams. Protection lists were released three days prior to the draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Claimed by	Claimed from	Compensation
1	1	Pierre Bouchard	Washington Capitals	Montreal Canadiens	cash
1	2	Larry Giroux	St. Louis Blues	Detroit Red Wings	cash
1	3	Pierre Plante	New York Rangers	Detroit Red Wings	cash
1	4	Jim Lorentz	Detroit Red Wings	Buffalo Sabres	cash
2	5	Mike Korney	New York Rangers	Montreal Canadiens	claim: Dan Newman

1980

The 1980 NHL waiver draft was held on October 8, 1980. Five selections were made. Protection lists were released a day prior to the draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Claimed by	Claimed from	Compensation
1	1	Yvon Vautour	Colorado Rockies	New York Islanders	cash
1	2	John Wensink	Quebec Nordiques	Boston Bruins	cash
1	3	Rick Smith	Detroit Red Wings	Boston Bruins	cash
1	4	Curt Brackenbury	Edmonton Oilers	Quebec Nordiques	cash
1	5	Colin Campbell	Vancouver Canucks	Edmonton Oilers	cash

1981

The 1981 NHL waiver draft was held on October 5, 1981. 13 selections were made. Protection lists were released two days prior to the draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Claimed by	Claimed from	Compensation
1	1	Craig Levie	Winnipeg Jets	Montreal Canadiens	cash
1	2	John Wensink	Colorado Rockies	Quebec Nordiques	cash
1	3	Mike McDougal	Hartford Whalers	New York Rangers	cash
1	4	Terry Murray	Washington Capitals	Philadelphia Flyers	cash
1	5	Ron Delorme	Vancouver Canucks	Colorado Rockies	cash
1	6	Yvon Lambert	Buffalo Sabres	Montreal Canadiens	cash
1	7	Al Sims	Los Angeles Kings	Hartford Whalers	cash
1	8	Gary Edwards	St. Louis Blues	Edmonton Oilers	cash
2	9	Serge Savard	Winnipeg Jets	Montreal Canadiens	cash
2	10	Rob McClanahan	Hartford Whalers	Buffalo Sabres	cash
2	11	John Bednarski	Pittsburgh Penguins	Buffalo Sabres	cash
3	12	Trevor Johansen	Los Angeles Kings	St. Louis Blues	cash
4	13	Jeff Brubaker	Montreal Canadiens	Hartford Whalers	cash

1982

The 1982 NHL waiver draft was held on October 4, 1982. Seven selections were made and nine players total changed teams. Protection lists were released three days prior to the draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Claimed by	Claimed from	Compensation
1	1	Murray Brumwell	New Jersey Devils	Minnesota North Stars	cash
1	2	Jack Carlson	St. Louis Blues	Minnesota North Stars	cash
1	3	Doug Lecuyer	Pittsburgh Penguins	Winnipeg Jets	cash
1	4	Bill Baker	New York Rangers	St. Louis Blues	claim: Tim Bothwell
2	5	Carol Vadnais	New Jersey Devils	New York Rangers	claim: Graeme Nicolson
3	6	Dave Hutchison	New Jersey Devils	Washington Capitals	cash
4	7	Bob Hoffmeyer	Edmonton Oilers	Philadelphia Flyers	cash

1983

The 1983 NHL waiver draft was held on October 3, 1983. Eleven selections were made. Protection lists were released two days prior to the draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Claimed by	Claimed from	Compensation
1	1	Grant Mulvey	Pittsburgh Penguins	Chicago Black Hawks	cash
1	2	Mike Crombeen	Hartford Whalers	St. Louis Blues	cash
1	3	Don Nachbaur	Los Angeles Kings	Edmonton Oilers	cash
1	4	Terry Johnson	St. Louis Blues	Quebec Nordiques	cash
1	5	Mark Renaud	Buffalo Sabres	Hartford Whalers	cash
1	6	Jean Hamel	Montreal Canadiens	Quebec Nordiques	cash
2	7	Mike Zuke	Hartford Whalers	St. Louis Blues	cash
2	8	Dwight Schofield	St. Louis Blues	Montreal Canadiens	cash
2	9	Jeff Brubaker	Calgary Flames	Montreal Canadiens	cash
2	10	John Van Boxmeer	Quebec Nordiques	Buffalo Sabres	cash
3	11	Bob Crawford	Hartford Whalers	St. Louis Blues	cash

1984

The 1984 NHL waiver draft was held on October 9, 1984. Nine selections were made and ten players total changed teams. Protection lists were released four days prior to the draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Claimed by	Claimed from	Compensation
1	1	Wayne Babych	Pittsburgh Penguins	St. Louis Blues	cash
1	2	Dave Pichette	New Jersey Devils	St. Louis Blues	cash
1	3	Jeff Brubaker	Toronto Maple Leafs	Edmonton Oilers	claim: Terry Martin
1	4	Wally Weir	Hartford Whalers	Quebec Nordiques	cash
1	5	Craig Levie	St. Louis Blues	Minnesota North Stars	cash
1	6	Andre Dore	New York Rangers	Quebec Nordiques	cash
1	7	Billy Carroll	Edmonton Oilers	New York Islanders	cash
2	8	Bruce Crowder	Pittsburgh Penguins	Boston Bruins	cash
2	9	Dave Lumley	Hartford Whalers	Edmonton Oilers	cash