14 NHL Players Hit Waivers: What It Means for the Season Ahead of Roster Deadline
The NHL announced that 14 players have been placed on waivers as teams narrow down their roster by the Monday roster submission deadline.
The NHL needs teams to submit their final rosters in the next 48 hours so teams are scrambling to put the final touches on who is going to represent them on opening night and it seems the last chunk of bubble players are finally being re-assigned.
On Saturday, the NHL announced that the following 14 players were placed on waivers. This was confirmed by Sportsnet analyst and NHL insider Elliotte Friedman on X as well:
Oscar Dansk (Anaheim Ducks)
T.J. Tynan (Colorado Avalanche)
Chris Wagner (Colorado Avalanche)
Kyle Capobianco (Dallas Stars)
Magnus Hellberg (Dallas Stars)
Cameron Hughes (Dallas Stars)
Kole Lind (Dallas Stars)
Alexander Petrovic (Dallas Stars)
Emilio Pettersen (Dallas Stars)
Matt Kiersted (Florida Panthers)
Ben Jones (Minnesota Wild)
Connor Mackey (New York Rangers)
John Hayden (Seattle Kraken)
Josh Mahura (Seattle Kraken)
The deadline for these players to be claimed off of waivers is 2 pm on Sunday, so perhaps one of these players will be able to find another team before the start of the season. If not, they will spend their time in the minors until they are called upon due to injuries, struggles, or whatever else a team may need them for.
Two interesting names are John Hayden and Josh Mahura of the Seattle Kraken. Hayden, a 6'3 veteran center who was drafted in the 3rd round by Chicago in 2013 has bounced around clubs since leaving Chicago, with stops in New Jersey, Arizona, and Buffalo before settling with Seattle. He played two seasons with the Kraken but didn't play much, only scoring two goals in nine games; and has never been an offensive player, having a career-high 13 points in 2017-2018. Any team looking for a big, tough center to fill out their bottom six could use Hayden's presence for sure. For his career he has
The other name is Josh Mahura, a former Anaheim Ducks draft pick who played sporadically for his career. A defenseman who was known for offensive prowess, it never translated into the NHL with only 16 points as a career high with the Florida Panthers in 2022-2023. He's only had 45 points in 191 games and never really found his footing. He's still only 26 and he has more than enough time to secure a spot somewhere in the future but as of now, it looks like it won't be Seattle.
It looks like the cuts to Hayden and Mahura were possibly cap-related, and they still need to get rid of somebody to fit under the cap threshold for the season as well. It's an unfortunate part of the business of professional sports.
All NHL teams have until 5 pm on Monday, October 7th to submit their final rosters before most teams open up the regular season in the days following.
