On the opening-week waiver wire, Rémi Poirier expected his next stop to be Texas, where he had spent four AHL seasons. Instead, New Jersey claimed him from Dallas on September 27. A familiar assignment became an unfamiliar organization, with different teammates and another route toward his first NHL game. “I wasn’t expecting it,” Poirier told the Devils’ website in its October 8 practice report.
That small admission captures the anxiety behind a transaction notice. Dallas had developed a goalie who expected to return to its AHL affiliate. New Jersey saw someone worth making room for. Neither club could control the other’s decision. The Devils faced their own exposure, too. Their September 27 announcement paired Poirier’s arrival with waiver placements that included veteran goalie David Rittich. The preferred outcome required finding room for one goalie and getting another safely to Utica.
For Poirier, the claim offered opportunity without guaranteeing a start. For management, it began another round of decisions about the players behind the NHL lineup. Keeping useful depth requires more than surviving the first claim window. A team must preserve a workable route back.
New Jersey gained a goalie and kept its veteran option
Poirier brought a substantial recent workload. The AHL’s September 27 announcement credited him with 27 wins and a .912 save percentage in 52 appearances for Texas during 2025-26. Those numbers explain the appeal of acquiring a goalie coming off a productive season of regular work. By October 8, the Devils’ practice report described Poirier as the third member of a rotation featuring Jake Allen and Nico Daws. The club intended to give Allen and Daws the playing opportunities while Poirier worked toward his chance.
His first full practice with New Jersey came that day. Before then, according to the same report, he had worked on his own and alongside scratches or players rehabbing injuries. He belonged to the organization, but his daily routine still ran partly outside the main group. For a goalie in that position, practice offers something tangible: the slap of a puck against a pad, the scrape of an edge, another shot to track. The next start offers no such certainty. “Right now, I’m just working hard every day,” Poirier said.
Rittich’s outcome mattered just as much. The Devils confirmed on September 28 that he cleared waivers and joined the group assigned to Utica, preserving their veteran option. Had another club claimed him, management would have needed to accept a different balance. Poirier’s arrival would still have added potential, but New Jersey would have lost an experienced reserve in the same maneuver.
The opening-week waiver wire allowed the Devils to expand their choices because another team passed on their exposed goalie. That dependence makes the calculation uncomfortable. A GM can study competing depth charts and choose the timing. He still cannot decide what another club needs.
The incoming player needs somewhere to stay
Once Poirier arrived, his presence created another squeeze. An extra goalie occupies a roster spot that could accommodate a spare forward or defenseman. PuckPedia’s waiver guide identifies the next hurdle: a claimed player has not cleared waivers. New Jersey would generally need to expose Poirier again before assigning him to the AHL.
The claim therefore changed more than the goaltending competition. It changed the next roster decision, too. Keeping Poirier available upstairs meant finding flexibility elsewhere.
The opening-week waiver wire exposes the contract myth
Rittich’s situation illustrates why a contract label tells only part of the story. New Jersey’s offseason announcements listed his agreement as a one-year, one-way deal worth $1 million. That commitment established his pay, but it could not guarantee an NHL stall once camp ended. Under the NHL/NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, one-way and two-way arrangements concern salary in the NHL and minors. A one-way contract generally preserves the same salary in either league. With a two-way deal, the player earns a different rate during minor-league service.
Waiver eligibility answers a separate question. PuckPedia’s exemption guide identifies the relevant factors as signing age, position, elapsed seasons and NHL games. A two-way contract cannot make an otherwise eligible player disappear safely into the AHL. For a player on a two-way deal, going down can also slash his paycheck. The organization keeps a reserve while the player absorbs the financial difference and tries to reclaim his job.
Those consequences shape the opening-week waiver wire before anyone submits a name. The collective agreement generally limits active rosters to 23 players before the trade deadline, and cap pressure can leave clubs carrying fewer. Keeping an extra goalie means having less room for somebody else. Coaches must work within that squeeze. The easiest player to move may have played well enough to stay. Exposing a veteran can preserve a younger player’s opportunity while risking the dependable replacement management hoped to keep nearby.
Even when the veteran clears, however, the plan remains unfinished. Management has secured the right to make an assignment. It must still consider how that assignment affects the player’s availability.
Keeping depth means planning the return trip
That distinction connects New Jersey’s goalie decisions to the roster maneuvering across the Hudson. As long as Poirier stays with the NHL club, the Devils can prepare him through practice and keep him available for an opening. If management eventually wants him playing AHL games, it must consider both renewed waiver exposure and the conditions governing his return. The same sequence applies to reserve skaters. A GM navigating the opening-week waiver wire needs to know more than whether another club might claim a player. He also needs to know when that player could come back.
The 2025 NHL/NHLPA Memorandum of Understanding added a restriction that is now active for 2026-27. When a minor-league loan costs a player at least one credited NHL day, he generally must report and play a minor-league game before recall. The agreement provides a goalie exception if the NHL club would otherwise lack two available goalies for its next game.
The practical effect has already reached the ice. In her October 11 Rangers report, beat writer Mollie Walker described Cole Beaudoin taking one Hartford shift before returning to New York. Her explanation was direct: the rule “requires players sent down to appear in one game before they are eligible for a recall.” “He played very little,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said in that report. Walker explained that the limited workload formed part of the plan.
Beaudoin’s brief appearance makes the burden visible. Management must arrange an actual game appearance around the player’s travel, workload and intended NHL return. An affiliate with several idle days presents a different problem. Sending a skater down can leave him unavailable for the quick recall a GM would prefer. Keeping him upstairs preserves access while consuming the roster space management wanted to open.
Poirier’s case shows the uncertainty involved in retaining and acquiring players. Beaudoin’s trip shows the work required to move them afterward. Both belong to the same depth strategy.
A longer NHL stay creates another decision
Clearing waivers also starts a running clock. Under the NHL/NHLPA agreement, clubs track 10 cumulative NHL games and a 30-day roster clock for ordinary movement after clearance. Emergency recalls have separate provisions. A reserve who fills in briefly may remain movable. Someone who stays through a longer stretch can require renewed exposure before going down.
Success can therefore complicate the plan. A player earns more ice time, the coach trusts him, and management loses some of the flexibility that made him useful as a reserve. The GM’s decision stretches across several dates: the first exposure, the assignment, the recall and the possible return to the minors. Each move changes the choices available for the next one.
Injuries turn those choices into immediate needs
An affiliate’s schedule becomes especially significant when an NHL coach suddenly needs another player in uniform. New Jersey received an early reminder of how quickly options disappear. Its October 2 injury report announced that Seamus Casey would miss eight to 10 weeks following knee surgery. That removed a potential defense option from the recall conversation. Management had to assess whom the coaching staff could use if another defenseman missed time. A player earmarked for development minutes can become an urgent NHL consideration when the bench gets shorter.
The scouting question changes with the vacancy. A puck-moving defenseman and a heavy defender who clears the crease might sit beside each other on a transaction sheet. Their value depends on the work the team needs done. A club struggling to escape its own zone will examine different clips from one losing battles around the net. Keeping another winger offers little protection when a coach needs someone who can retrieve a puck under pressure.
Casey’s absence does not establish that the Devils should have kept every defenseman upstairs. It shows why management must assess each reserve separately, then build a recall plan around the jobs that player can handle.
The next recall will judge the gamble
New Jersey’s decisions have already moved beyond its goalie rotation. The Devils’ October 9 transaction notice confirmed that Stefan Noesen cleared waivers and went to Utica. Their October 12 announcement brought him back and placed Connor Brown on injured reserve.
That sequence gives the opening-week waiver wire a concrete purpose. The organization kept a forward available and retrieved him when it opened a roster spot. Clearance mattered because it preserved someone the club could still use.
The next test may demand a different player. A center’s absence can change defensive assignments and faceoff choices. Losing a defenseman can expose his partner to a matchup he cannot handle. Good depth planning anticipates those jobs and the steps required to fill them. Beaudoin’s brief Hartford appearance illustrates the logistics; New Jersey’s goalie decisions show the risk involved in preserving the candidates.
Poirier still faces his own wait. The Devils offered him an NHL opportunity while Allen and Daws retained the first chances to play. His work continues through practice reps, with no firm date for the opening he wants. Management faces a similar uncertainty after exposing a useful reserve. The claim window reveals whether the player stays in the organization. The schedule, the injuries and the next difficult recall reveal whether keeping him actually helps. When the bench gets short, who’s ready to play?
READ MORE: NHL Salary Cap Management Starts With the Next Shift
FAQs
Why do NHL teams put depth players on waivers?
Teams need roster space while keeping reserves nearby. Waivers let rivals claim eligible players before an AHL assignment.
Does a two-way contract make a player waiver-exempt?
No. A two-way contract sets different NHL and minor-league salaries. Waiver eligibility depends on signing age, position and experience.
Can a team send a player it claimed straight to the AHL?
A claimed player has not cleared waivers. His new team generally must expose him again before an AHL assignment.
What changed about AHL recalls in 2026-27?
A loan that costs a credited NHL day generally requires a minor-league game before recall. The agreement includes a goalie exception.
Did David Rittich clear waivers?
Yes. New Jersey confirmed that Rittich cleared waivers and went to Utica on September 28, preserving its veteran goalie option.
