17 teams currently operating over the salary cap could lead for a terrible trade deadline
The NHL Salary Cap was introduced in the 2005-2006 season, after the 2004-2005 lockout. After the introduction of the cap system to the league, there has only been one lockout since then.
But teams have gotten smarter and figured out tricks to maneuver around the system and manipulate it.
There are currently 17 teams in the NHL who are operating over the NHL's salary cap. With so many teams with such limited cap space it's interesting to see how teams operate heading into the trade deadline. More and more teams will attempt to exploit this salary cap rule to maximize their cap space.
While the benefits of the LTIR are primarily short-term, in the long run, there's a chance for the negative aspects of the cap system to displace what the relief provides. This season alone emergency recalls have nearly doubled, while other teams have played short this year because of their lack of space.
In the long-term, it will limit who a club can recall if they have a particular player in the minors they need to bring up. The LTIR allows teams to absorb performance bonuses and salary cap relief, but again it seems like these are temporary fixes on a broken system.
| POLL | ||
Should The NHL Implement A Luxury Tax system? | ||
| Yes, the hard cap must go | 60 | 55 % |
| No, the salary cap keeps things fair | 49 | 45 % |
| List of polls | ||
