General Managers are all trying to make trades but Insider reveals what's stopping that from happening
In seasons past American Thanksgiving has marked the point of no return for multiple teams. Historically only about 20% of teams not in a playoff spot have managed to claw their way back into the playoffs. American Thanksgiving therefore often marked a flurry of trades with General Managers scrambled to try and improve their rosters.
Those attempts to improve their rosters hasn't stopped, not in the slightest. But the ability to make a trade has grown to be significantly more difficult. Now according to NHL Insider, Elliotte Friedman, one General Manager told him the following:
This revelation came on the 32 Thoughts Podcast and continues to highlight the long reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the NHL's flat salary cap situation. With teams who built their rosters with long-term ramifications in mind they also find themselves filled with roster spots they likely didn't expect to be filled.
The Toronto Maple Leafs for example have all 50 contract slots filled after early season injuries forced them to sign an additional goalie, filling all their contract slots.
This has forced teams to get creative and look at ways of getting other teams involved with salary cap retention. But with over half the league at the salary cap ceiling, finding a team to retain money has become increasingly more difficult and expensive.
| POLL | ||
Does the NHL need to make changes to the salary cap? | ||
| Yes, get rid of it | 48 | 35.6 % |
| No, teams just need to manage it better | 52 | 38.5 % |
| We need a soft cap | 35 | 25.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
