Gary Bettman may allow special exemption for Blue Jackets after Johnny Gaudreau's passing
The tragic and sudden passing of Johnny Gaudreau is far more important than hockey, but an important salary issue may need to be solved before the season begins.
Without Gaudreau, the Columbus Blue Jackets are currently $2.7M below the NHL's salary cap floor of $65M. The league implements a spending minimum to ensure that teams remain competitive and teams need to meet all salary cap requirements before the season begins, but because of this shocking tragedy, Columbus may get an expansion from Gary Bettman according to a recent article from the Hockey News.
The Blue Jackets surely shouldn't be penalized by the NHL for the consequences of this horrific event completely out of their control. Other sport leagues such as the NBA have a clause called the Disabled Player Exemption, which allows a team a break when unforeseen circumstances make a player unavailable.
Considering the weight of the loss for the Blue Jackets and the rest of the hockey world, it makes no sense to punish the Blue Jackets for being under the salary cap. Instead, Bettman should allow the Blue Jackets an exemption, and not penalize them for being not far beneath the salary cap floor this season.
| POLL | ||
Do you think the Blue Jackets should be given an exemption? | ||
| Yes | 307 | 78.7 % |
| No | 60 | 15.4 % |
| See Results | 23 | 5.9 % |
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