Vegas clearly cheat Salary Cap and activate Mark Stone for playoffs

Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon updated the media today that Mark Stone has been cleared for contact today at practice, and is trending towards being available for game one of Vegas' series against Dallas.

Mark Stone went on LTIR two weeks before the trade deadline with a lacerated spleen, and the Golden Knights provided no clear timeline for a return. The team then went out and had a huge deadline, bringing in nearly $11M in salary between Tomas Hertl, Noah Hanifin, and Anthony Mantha. Heading into the playoffs with Stone in the lineup, the Golden Knights will dress a lineup around $8.7M over the salary cap.

Mark Stone has now been placed on LTIR near the deadline and activated near game one of the playoffs for three years in a row now. Clearly, the Golden Knights are using minor but legit injuries to keep Stone out of the lineup, but he returns to play slightly injured in the playoffs - and still is a star player. It's ridiculous that Vegas is able to clearly use this as a tactic to ice a playoff super lineup for three years straight with absolutely no penalty, and plenty of fans are sick of it.

Oilers GM Ken Holland is currently leading an executive committee of NHL managers to investigate changing the rules around LTIR in the playoffs, including a potential rule that would force players to miss at least the first few playoff games after an injury. Some action clearly does need to be taken, because Vegas is blatantly getting away with a loophole.