NHL issues memo to all 32 teams threatening to investigate them for certain trades
The National Hockey League and Gary Bettman have a reputation of making changes to rules only when it benefits them. The league looks at things through a microscope and tries to enforce rules that don't exist. Multiple examples have been seen of this over the years.
One of the best being the league punishing the New Jersey Devils for circumventing the salary cap with the Ilya Kovalchuk contract. This despite the contract being approved by the NHL and fitting under the parameters set out in the CBA. But it's do as Bettman says, not as his rules are written.
Today the NHL issued a memo to all 32 teams ahead of the trade deadline, claiming they are willing to investigate any trade involving an injured player.
This could impact the market for players like Nyquist, Monahan, Henrique, etc.
While the NHL isn't outright banning any such moves, it says it will investigate transactions to see if they constitute circumvention of the CBA.
This memo comes as a surprise especially given the fact that the league has allowed the Arizona Coyotes to build their entire roster with LTIR players. In previous years the Tampa Bay Lightning stashed Nikita Kucherov on LTIR for the entire season before activating him for the playoffs. The Maple Leafs also utilized this previously, trading for an injured Riley Nash who they activated for game 1 of the playoffs.
These move don't by any means violate the CBA, especially if that player is injured, but it's not surprising that the league is trying to crack down on something that doesn't make any sense to anyone, but themselves.
| POLL | ||
Should teams be able to hide players on LTIR? | ||
| Yes, it's part of the CBA | 58 | 26.4 % |
| No, it's circumventing the cap | 96 | 43.6 % |
| Just get rid of the cap | 66 | 30 % |
| List of polls | ||
