NHL Waivers Sept 25: 2021 First-Round Pick, Goaltender Available

The NHL’s waiver season is upon us, which means we shall monitor the players who may end up being available to the Montreal Canadiens.

Seven players hit the waiver wire on Thursday, including 2021 first-round pick Xavier Bourgault, who was placed on waivers by the Ottawa Senators. The 22-year-old centre scored 12 goals and 14 assists for the Belleville Senators (AHL) last season. Utah Mammoth Goaltender Connor Ingram is also on waivers.

#NHL waivers today: pic.twitter.com/zlUzADNY2N

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 25, 2025

Even though players placed on waivers tend to garner a lot of attention from fans, actual waiver claims are relatively rare. Generally speaking, most NHL teams lack the roster space to add a player prior to the start of the season.

As it stands, the Montreal Canadiens are 17th in the waiver-wire priority list, which means 16 other teams can submit a claim on a player before the Habs. It should be noted the Canadiens have 43 contracts on the books, giving them a little leeway in that department, though we shouldn’t expect them to reach the 50 contract maximum, since it would handcuff the management group moving forward.

Montreal Canadiens Players Eligible For Waivers In 2025-26

Josh Anderson, Alex Belzile, Samuel Blais, Alexandre Carrier, Cole Caufield, Nate Clurman, Lucas Condotta, Kirby Dach, Marc Del Gaizo, Noah Dobson, Jake Evans, Sean Farrell, Brendan Gallagher, Kaiden Guhle, Kaapo Kahkonen, Patrik Laine, Mike Matheson, Samuel Montembeault, Alex Newhook, Juraj Slafkovsky, Jayden Struble, Nick Suzuki, William Trudeau, Joe Veleno, Arber Xhekaj.

Waiver Wire Priority List Rules

The waiver-wire priority list is determined by the final 2024–25 standings, ordered in reverse. Once the schedule reaches November 1, the list will be dictated by the updated 2025–26 standings.

Here’s the waiver-priority explanation in the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement:

“In the event that more than one Club makes a claim for such Player, he shall: (i) be transferred to the claiming Club having earned the lowest percentage of possible points in the League standing at the time of the request for Waivers, or (ii) if Waivers are requested outside the Regular Season, or the successful Waiver claim is made (i.e., the date the Player would be transferred to a successful claiming Club per this Section), before November 1st then the priority shall be determined by the final standing in the League’s Regular Season schedule in the preceding Regular Season.”

Complete NHL Waiver Priority List

The current NHL waiver priority list is as follows.