After Golden Knights Use LTIR Rule, NHL GMs Want Changes

The Vegas Golden Knights properly used the NHL’s long-term injured reserve rules in consecutive seasons, putting Mark Stone on LTIR at mid-season and getting him back for Game 1 of their Round One playoff series. It’s been a source of consternation from fans and some media around the league, but the NHL has not yet moved to change the rules.

However, that may change soon.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly acknowledged that cases such as the Golden Knights putting Stone on LTIR and using the savings to acquire other players, such as Ivan Barbashev and Teddy Blueger, then activating Stone for the playoffs have caused general managers to urge the league to make changes.

“(GMs) would like us to continue to consider making some kind of adjustment that would alleviate some of the concerns around that,” Daly said a the NHL media tour in Las Vegas Wednesday.

The Tampa Bay Lightning drew a firestorm of criticism on their way to the 2021 Stanley Cup championship as winger Nikita Kucherov was skating for weeks, if not more, in the second half of the regular season but was not activated. Tampa Bay used the salary cap space at the NHL trade deadline. He underwent hip surgery for a torn labrum in late December but missed the remainder of the regular season before suiting up for Game 1 of what became the Tampa Bay Stanley Cup run.

In January 2023, Stone suffered a setback with his back injury. It required surgery, keeping him out until the playoffs.

However, each controversial LTIR usage resulted in teams with a roster that would have far exceeded the salary cap, but one does not exist in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“We’ve had preliminary talks with the players’ association just so they’re aware of the issue. They read about it, too,” Daly said. “And I don’t really know, quite frankly, what the players’ view of it is. So, it really would depend. I don’t know what the receptiveness would be to try and address it. And it probably depends on how complicated the fix is.”

It’s an entirely complicated issue without an easy solution. The NHL salary cap structure is hard cap, but is calculated on a daily basis. For example,a player making $5 million does not count $5 million against the team’s salary cap if acquired near the trade deadline. The number is pro-rated based on the days until the end of the regular season.

Daly seemed to indicate he didn’t think it would be fair to count an acquired player’s full salary against a team at the start of the playoffs.

“So you can pick up an expensive contract at the end of its term, and your cap only gets charged a certain amount. But all of a sudden, if that $1 million (acquired cap hit) becomes $5 million for Game 1 of the playoffs, you can’t play that player,” Daly said. “As a result, I’m not sure that’s a fair result because teams complied within the rules.”

The quotes first appeared on Sportsnet.