Some players find out they’ve ‘made the team’ when the coach makes a big dressing room speech. For others, it’s a more quiet, private, “start looking for a place” sort of conversation.

And for some, it’s the simple act of having outstayed one’s temporary waiver exemption. That was the case for Erik Brännström this weekend when he skated his tenth game of the season for the Vancouver Canucks.

We’ll explain.

The Canucks first waived Brännström minutes after acquiring him from the Colorado Avalanche on October 6, 2024. Having gone unclaimed by all 31 other NHL franchises, Brännström was assigned to Abbotsford the following day.

Brännström played two games for Abbotsford in the week to come, suiting up on October 11 and 13 for a couple of matchups with the Calgary Wranglers (the only team in professional hockey named after pants.) He put up three assists in those two games, looked perhaps even better than those numbers might suggest, and was promptly recalled a few days later on October 17 as Derek Forbort stepped away from the team for personal reasons.

And that started a couple of timers.

Players require waivers to be reassigned to the AHL after they’ve passed a certain threshold of professional seasons and NHL games played. Those thresholds depend on when a player signed their first NHL contract, but for most, it’s three professional seasons or 80 NHL games played, whichever comes first.

Brännström arrived in Vancouver with 266 games played across six different seasons for the Ottawa Senators, so his waiver exemption was long since in the rear-view mirror. Hence, his being waived immediately after being traded to Vancouver.

But when a player is waived and passes through waivers unclaimed, they receive a second, temporary exemption from waivers.

This exemption kicks in as soon as that player is recalled to the NHL again. For Brännström, that was October 17.

At that point, a player does not have to go through waivers again to be sent down until they have spent either 30 cumulative days on the roster or played in ten cumulative NHL games.

Then, the yo-yoing began.

This is where the cumulativeness mentioned in the rule comes into play. Brännström began a repetitive process of being brought up on game-days and sent back down to Abbotsford for any non-game, non-travel days.

Of course, maintaining his waiver exemption was not the primary reason for these constant recalls and reassignments. It was far more about keeping Brännström’s cap hit off the books on off-days so as to accrue more cap space. Arshdeep Bains went through, and will continue to go through, the same process, and he won’t be waiver-eligible until very late this season or, more likely, next year.

But keeping Brännström’s waiver exemption alive was a nice side-effect of these constant transactions. He played three games for the Canucks on October 17, 19, and 22 before being sent back down to Abbotsford on October 24. He was recalled on October 25, played October 26, was sent back down on October 27, and then recalled again on October 28. Two more games, October 28 and 30, and then a Halloween demotion.

One more recall, on November 1, and then Brännström was with the team for an extended stint made necessary by travel. A three-game California road trip, followed by a return home for a November 9 game against the Edmonton Oilers, and we’ve reached the present day.

By our count, Brännström had spent 21 of his 30 maximum days on the Canucks roster. But because the temporary waiver exemption is a matter of OR, not AND, that day-counter wound up being irrelevant. As soon as Brännström hit the ice against Edmonton, his tenth NHL game post-recall, he became eligible for waivers once again.

Which means, at this point, he will not be waived again.

Brännström may not be a perfect player. And his statline of two assists in ten games and an average ice-time of 13:53 doesn’t exactly leap off the page. But Brännström has looked good for most of his ten games in Vancouver and, perhaps more importantly, he’s brought an element of dynamic puck movement that has otherwise been absent beneath the Canucks’ top blueline pairing.

As of this writing, he’s rocking a 53.85% Corsi rating, a 54.47% control of shots while on the ice, a 58.07% share of expected goals, and a 56.25% control of high-danger chances. And, yes, those results have been achieved in relatively sheltered minutes. But then head coach Rick Tocchet has spoken recently about wanting to get Brännström more minutes in tougher situations, and that is probably the most important measure of all.

Which is all to say that Brännström has definitely shown enough that, should he be placed on waivers again, he would almost certainly be picked up by another time.

Which is why he won’t be placed on waivers again.

Which is why, as soon as Brännström hit the ice against Edmonton for Game #10, it meant he was in Vancouver to stay, at least for the rest of the 2024/25 season.

What that means for Brännström is obvious. He’s one of the eight defenders that the Canucks will presumably keep on their roster for the foreseeable future. But what does it mean for the Canucks and their ability to accrue cap space?

Unfortunately, the period of time during which Brännström could be freely yo-yoed between Vancouver and Abbotsford is now at an end. But Nils Åman just went through waivers unclaimed before being recalled on November 9. His 30-day, ten-game clock is now ticking. As such, it was no surprise to see him sent back down to Abbotsford on Sunday after playing Saturday.

Bains was also sent back down to Abbotsford on Sunday. For he and the other still-waiver-exempt players on and around the roster, including Aatu Räty and Jonathan Lekkerimäki, this is going to be a season-long thing. With Dakota Joshua set to return shortly, those forwards will be sent down to Abbotsford regularly and only recalled when they are needed to suit up, thus maximizing cap accrual.

But not so for Erik Brännström. His days of temporary waiver exemption are at an end. And so too are his days of playing anywhere other than Vancouver this season.