Will NHL look at implementing playoff salary cap?

[TMLisSRYinGerman]

How about this…who cares? Good for Tampa for finding a loophole with Kucherov muzzling financial giants is a stupid practise…look at RM Barcelona NYY Man City etc…let’s teams with the wealth do what they can do otherwise why not just stick to the floor and have a league of Arizona’s to watch…

Nah I see it completely different. I am a football fan too - I love the 'fairness' in the nhl with the cap and everything. In football the rich teams absolutely dominate just because of money. Don't want this to happen to the nhl. So IMO they should find a solution here.

 

[AvroArrow]

If Kucherov came back with say two weeks left in the regular season, would they still be below the cap anyways? That’s my understanding of accrued ltir… but I could be wrong

I think they'd have to waive some players. TDL had passed, they'd have to shed about 10M in salary. That's at least 2-3 good players and they probably get bounced out by the Islanders. Instead they're on route to a 2nd cup back to back. It's dumb af lol everyone plays with a set salary and then you have a team going that much over.

 

[Cor]

It's more likely they create a roster rule, where a player has to play a game prior to the deadline to be playoff eligible. It sort of already exists, but it's the player has to be on the roster prior to the deadline to be eligible, and IR + LTIR are apart of that. So I for sure think it'll be amended to say a player has to have played regular season games prior to the deadline to be eligible to compete in the playoffs.

 

[Throw More Waffles]

I think they'd have to waive some players. TDL had passed, they'd have to shed about 10M in salary. That's at least 2-3 good players and they probably get bounced out by the Islanders. Instead they're on route to a 2nd cup back to back. It's dumb af lol everyone plays with a set salary and then you have a team going that much over.

My understanding of ltir is that it gets acrued daily and is added to a teams cap ceiling.

For example, when the leafs signed Clarkson last year, his 5 mil ltir ads to the money the leafs can spend. Cap is 81.5, Clarkson makes 5 mil, leafs can now spend 86.5 total and be cap compliant. (This is not "extra" cap space, as Clarkson's cap hit is included in the 86.5).

So if Kucherov came back the last 2 weeks of the regular season, that doesn't automatically add 9 mil to their cap. Probably closer to like 500k.

So, based on my understanding, Kucherov could have played the last few games of the regular season if ready and they'd still be cap compliant. But maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Bluelines]

Personally I don't see how this hurts the league in any tangible way though. Even if one views it as a cap circumventing loophole, all teams can take advantage of it equally.

I'd rather have a situation that allows for more creative mid-season trades than worrying about the spirit of the salary cap

Right, players don't get paid to play in the playoffs, the are paid to play in the regular season. Having a cap in the playoffs gives the league no benefit, what are you capping, there is no playoff pay. The cap is to protect teams from themselves, not to provide a level playing field.

 

[UKLightning]

Legendary salt.

Tampa asked for a change to the LTIR after Kane.

They were the only team to sign for the change.

Since the other NHL teams gave them the finger...

Revenge is best served ICE cold.

Sorry sweetheart. LOL!​

​

​

 

[Golden_Jet]

I disagree, I think a lot of teams will use this to their advantage, all of a sudden an injury that takes 4 to 6 weeks turns into six to eight weeks because it's just before the playoffs, Kucherov was ready long before the playoffs started as was Riley Nash yet they were both held out because of cap. Something needs to be done either be it a player must play a certain percentage of the season to qualify for the playoffs or a cap penalty for exceeding the cap

Lol, he wasn’t even a 100% when the playoffs started, should do some research on how long the injury takes to heal.

 

[Stonehands1990]

Lol, he wasn’t even a 100% when the playoffs started, should do some research on how long the injury takes to heal.

Pastrnak had the same surgery it was a 5 month recovery. Tampa duped everyone and I could care less. Abolish the cap or have a luxury tax system

 

[bentharbs]

Neither the NHL nor NHLPA have a vested interest in closing this particular loophole. At least not one I can see.

Salary cap for competitive balance, but you better believe the NHL doesn’t want to see an Arizona/Florida Stanley Cup.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

The tampa bay lightning tried to have this changed and fixed after chicago won the cup while being 5 million over the cap in 2015. They didn't change it then. They won't change it now

 

[Arzak]

Just have a soft cap system with progressive penalties for teams that want to go over the cap or a way to explicitly trade cap space for draft picks or dollars.

Allow great teams to be great teams and let teams that aren't at the cap are compensated in a way that fuels their competitiveness.

Gary Bettman and Bill Daley have turned the hockey watching audience into armchair accountants and it's not that fun.

It could work if you have progressive penalties and money goes to raising cap.

 

[VanW27]

It's more likely they create a roster rule, where a player has to play a game prior to the deadline to be playoff eligible. It sort of already exists, but it's the player has to be on the roster prior to the deadline to be eligible, and IR + LTIR are apart of that. So I for sure think it'll be amended to say a player has to have played regular season games prior to the deadline to be eligible to compete in the playoffs.

That's what make sense to me as well, it doesn't change much or prevent cap maneuvering at the deadline to make deals but it would stop some of the more blatant ones like Kucherov, or even Riley Nash.

It could be as simple as the player has to play at least a single regular season game for the team to be playoff eligible.

 

[keonsbitterness]

That's what make sense to me as well, it doesn't change much or prevent cap maneuvering at the deadline to make deals but it would stop some of the more blatant ones like Kucherov, or even Riley Nash.

It could be as simple as the player has to play at least a single regular season game for the team to be playoff eligible.

Totally unfair for a player with a legit season-long injury (and I'm not saying Kucherov's wasn't) who then gets the okay to play during the playoffs. If he's under contract, the team should have the right to use him for the most important part of the season.

It's all a moot point anyway. Unless the NHL and PA agree to something different, current CBA rules will apply.

 

[Menzinger]

Totally unfair for a player with a legit season-long injury (and I'm not saying Kucherov's wasn't) who then gets the okay to play during the playoffs. If he's under contract, the team should have the right to use him for the most important part of the season.

It's all a moot point anyway. Unless the NHL and PA agree to something different, current CBA rules will apply.

I'd say if the Leafs had an impact player who was legitimately injured for the entirety of the regular season and then was barred from playing in the playoffs when finally healed, most fans would be pretty annoyed.

 

[bentharbs]

The issue is that a legitimate injury and illegitimate injury are indistinguishable if you want them to be. That won’t change.

 

[Throw More Waffles]

Pastrnak had the same surgery it was a 5 month recovery. Tampa duped everyone and I could care less. Abolish the cap or have a luxury tax system

It took Pastrnak 5 months eh?

You... uh... realize that Kucherov started in the playoffs 4.5 months after his surgery, right? Faster than Pastrnak?

 

[VanW27]

Totally unfair for a player with a legit season-long injury (and I'm not saying Kucherov's wasn't) who then gets the okay to play during the playoffs. If he's under contract, the team should have the right to use him for the most important part of the season.

It's all a moot point anyway. Unless the NHL and PA agree to something different, current CBA rules will apply.

True, you could make the requirement as 'on the 23 man roster for at least one game' instead.

No requirement to play but just needs to be on the cap for 1 game. In cases with a legitimate season missing injury the team would just put the player on the roster for the last game of the season - provided they had the cap space to do so.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Pastrnak had the same surgery it was a 5 month recovery. Tampa duped everyone and I could care less. Abolish the cap or have a luxury tax system

So Kucherov had surgery December 29, looks like he came back about 2 weeks early then.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

No, they can't just do that that's something that needs to be CBA negotiated and this CBA has what? 6 more years? Not happening

 

[Doublerum1975]

Easy way to fix it get rid of the salary cap

 

[ACC1224]

Easy way to fix it get rid of the salary cap

They gave up a year of hockey to get the cap, why would the now want to get rid of it?

 

[Cams]

They gave up a year of hockey to get the cap, why would the now want to get rid of it?

Maybe they have to have a look at the cap then. Doesn't seem right that the teams with financial muscle are restricted in how they can use it. I am not familiar with how the NBA system works, but is it really fair to compare.....NBA brings in a ton more revenue than the NHL could ever dream of, and I am sure it's tied to that. Have a look at a luxury tax maybe, like MLB? Not sure how good that works, when you have teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers who just spend whatever they want to get the best players in FA most of the time. At least 1 year recently the Yankees luxury tax was more than TB roster payroll? I don't think that would be a way to go, as you don't want a McDavid hitting UFA status and then have teams giving him $25M/year.

 

[cannucky]

I Love this loophole , we can just sign 15 more superstars to outragious contracts LTIR everybody on the team , rotate a compliant team of stars and league minimum plugs every night the rest can be on conditioning rehab stints with the Marlies between
" injuries " until the playoffs start then we ice the best players in the world as 1 team and screw the whole league , whats not to love ?
The New York Yankees can eat their hearts out lol!

 

[ACC1224]

Maybe they have to have a look at the cap then. Doesn't seem right that the teams with financial muscle are restricted in how they can use it. I am not familiar with how the NBA system works, but is it really fair to compare.....NBA brings in a ton more revenue than the NHL could ever dream of, and I am sure it's tied to that. Have a look at a luxury tax maybe, like MLB? Not sure how good that works, when you have teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers who just spend whatever they want to get the best players in FA most of the time. At least 1 year recently the Yankees luxury tax was more than TB roster payroll? I don't think that would be a way to go, as you don't want a McDavid hitting UFA status and then have teams giving him $25M/year.

Unfortunately they want to try and have a level playing field. There are other ways to flex the financial muscle that can be an advantage. Having the greatest front office money can buy would be one example.

 

[cannucky]

our new playoff team lol
Marchand McDavid Marner
Draisaitl Mathews MacKinnon
Huberdeau Scheifele Rantenan
Panerin Crosby Kane

Fox Hedman
Makar Hughes
Chychrun Carlson