The Salary Cap is generally a good thing for the NHL. It helps ensure competitive balance among the teams. However, there is one major flaw with the current salary cap.
That flaw…Long Term Injured Reserve. Several teams across the NHL have utilized Long Term Injured Reserve in the past few seasons most notably the Colorado Avalanche with Gabriel Landeskog and the Vegas Golden Knights with Mark Stone. You see, a player’s salary does not count towards the cap if they are placed in this status.
Anybody else find it awfully coincidental that Mark Stone, who was on long term injured reserved, is suddenly healthy enough to play in the first game of the NHL Playoffs when a team’s salary cap doesn’t matter. Anybody else find it even more coincidental that the team has pulled the same stunt two years in a row?
Something needs to be done to fix this flaw. Here is my solution. If a player is in long term injured reserve status during game 82 they are not eligible to play in the first round of the playoffs. This would be a simple solution to get teams to really think about whether or not to utilize this loophole.
How would you fix the NHL’s problem with long term injured reserve? Comment below!
Share our Article
Be the first to comment