It looks like the NHL’s Long-Term Injury Reserve system has gone from the biggest cap circumvention open secret to a messy grey area the league can’t seem to figure out how to enforce.
In recent years, controversy has arisen with multiple teams’ use of LTIR during the season in order to free up cap space, then activating those players for the playoffs when their salary doesn’t count towards the cap–allowing teams to field some very expensive rosters in the postseason.
The Edmonton Oilers are one of the most recent to face scrutiny for this, with Evander Kane out on LTIR throughout this season, but now potentially set to play in the playoffs. Well actually, the NHL is now monitoring situations like this so closely, that Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said that he believes it’s one of the reasons Kane did not appear in Game 1 for the Oilers.
This season, it appears the Florida Panthers are in a similar situation. as Matthew Tkachuk has been activated from injured reserve, starting his first game since February. Florida is taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night in Game 1 of their first round series.
It is unclear at this point if the NHL is monitoring this situation, and what that actually entails, including what proof of malpractice they are looking for and what penalties, if any, could potentially emerge.
If anything, it just raises more questions. If it’s true that the Oilers didn’t play Kane for fear of retaliation from the league, what information did they have that lead them to believe they may be in trouble? What’s different between that situation and the one with Tkachuk?
Not to mention, Florida and Edmonton are hardly the first two teams to activate major players off LTIR for the playoffs, with notable examples including the Vegas Golden Knights with Mark Stone (multiple times) and the Tampa Bay Lightning with Nikita Kucherov. Are any other teams being monitored for this by the league?
In any of these situations, some say it’s a wild conspiracy to suggest something suspicious is happening, while others argue it’s an obvious loophole that any smart team has to use to their advantage lest they fall behind. Either way, it does seem to happen more often than you’d expect, and for a league so focused on parity, the NHL would be smart to put better systems in place to keep teams in check.
At the same time, if the NHL is actively monitoring these situations, it’s important that they’re keeping an eye on it across the league. Knowing the league, it wouldn’t be the first time certain teams get punished while others get off scott-free.
