The NHL hard cap system has provisions in it that provides relief for major injuries, and a big loophole where the cap mysteriously disappears come playoff time. Pair those things together and you might have an advantage.
Why they structured the cap in such a way that it only pertains to the regular season is a mystery to me, but if it's been ratified by the NHL and NHLPA you'd have to think it was designed, negotiated, understood etc. by sophisticated parties.
So if Vegas is creatively pairing these cap mechanisms and bending injury timelines for success, who cares? And if Toronto weighs its options and thinks there's a benefit to holding onto a Hakanpaa? Who cares? These mechanisms are legal and available to 32 teams provided they have an injured player and the cash to pay out beyond the hard cap. The NHL isn't that serious. It's one step away from the WWE.
If the NHL doesn't like "shenanigans" build a compliance buyout into the system, create a soft cap, pad in some exemptions for entry level deals or contracts over 35 or hand out some franchise tags. At the end of the day a league shouldn't be so focused on being punitive against its own franchises because you're punishing a paying audience.