Why is there no salary cap in the playoffs?

[Vikingstad]

I get that players don't get paid in the playoffs, but is there a downside to having the salary cap carry over to playoffs?

 

[dechire]

The current structure of the salary cap system would make that impossible without inventing completely new salary cap rules for the playoffs. Without getting into the boring specifics of how team salaries are calculated, I'll just say that it's much more complicated than simply saying "These players on the roster have a total cap hit of X dollars and the salary cap is Y dollars."

 

[WarriorofTime]

The salary cap is structured on a daily basis, so there's not a great way to do it other than last day of the season.

The owners have been proposed with it, and rejected it, which means they presumably don't think it's a big deal.

 

[MikeyMike01]

As always, the NHL outsmarts itself