NHL confirms they will address Vegas cheating salary cap in next CBA
Today as the Stanley Cup Final begins, NHL executives Gary Bettman and Bill Daly met with the media. Shockingly, Daly confirmed that the NHL will re-evaluate LTIR usage in the playoffs.
Daly said that the issue will likely come up in negotiations of the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, the binding agreement between the owners and Players Union and governs much of the off-ice NHL rules. The current CBA, made after the 2012 lockout, was set to expire in 2022, but was extended because of the pandemic seasons until the end of the 2025-26 season.
Bill Daly says the feedback he's got back from most GMs is a desire to tweak the current LTIR rules as it relates to not having a salary cap in the playoffs. Daly isn't sure they can tweak that with the NHLPA before the end of the current CBA in 2 years. But it's on the NHL's radar.
- Pierre LeBrun
- Pierre LeBrun
It seems like most General Managers across the league have lodged some complaints about the usage of LTIR in the Playoffs in the last few years - which has in particular been a strategy of the Vegas Golden Knights.
For the last three seasons, Mark Stone has gone on injured reserve at the trade deadline for legitimate chronic injures that he plays through normally. However, his absence and the current LTIR rules have allowed Vegas to trade for a super team each year, and ice a playoff roster well above the salary cap. It hasn't worked every season, but Vegas has had extreme success by cheating the cap in the playoffs.
Unfortunately this issue can't be addressed until the 2026 season, but it's good to hear it's on the radar of the NHL to be changed in the near future. Maybe even this year if Stone goes on LTIR again, the NHL could step in to really evaluate the situation.
| POLL | ||
Do you think the current LTIR rules need to be changed, or is it fair game for any NHL team? | ||
| It needs to be changed, it's a bad loophole | 193 | 83.5 % |
| No change needed, it's fair game | 31 | 13.4 % |
| See Results | 7 | 3 % |
| List of polls | ||
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