Over the past few seasons, several NHL teams have faced criticism for allegedly taking advantage of the Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) rule. Now, according to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, the league appears to be taking steps toward enforcing stricter LTIR regulations.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway, and the opening games have been thrilling, featuring overtime finishes and even Alex Ovechkin scoring his first-ever overtime playoff goal. This time of year is also when teams often reactivate key players who were placed on LTIR during the regular season. During the playoffs, player salaries no longer count toward the salary cap, which sits at $88 million for the 2024–2025 season.
This tactic has often been associated with teams stacked with star players, allowing them to circumvent the salary cap and field more expensive rosters than would be permitted during the regular season. However, Elliotte Friedman recently mentioned on his 32 Thoughts podcast that the NHL may be cracking down more aggressively this year.
“Now, I’ll say this—I think the NHL has been working hard on some of these teams when it comes to injuries. I’ve mentioned it in previous pods. If you look at it: Dougie Hamilton came back in Game 82. Tyler Seguin came back in Game 82. I can’t prove it, but to me, I find it very interesting, because in the past, some of these guys might’ve waited until Game 1. The fact that those guys played Game 82, and Evander Kane isn’t playing Game 1 for Edmonton—I don’t know that I believe in coincidences,” Friedman said.
Friedman continued by suggesting that the league’s actions may hint at more significant changes in the near future:
“I think these are situations where the league was like, ‘We want to see your medical reports.’ And what it says to me is they’re going to work hard at changing the LTIR rules in the next CBA—that there will be a mechanism in place. They were really diligent; they were on teams about this. And I just don’t know that these are coincidences. I can’t prove anything, but I heard they were really on top of teams. Some of these injury decisions—not all of them—in terms of who came back for Game 82 and who isn’t playing Game 1, just tells me they were either effective or very pointed in what they asked for,” Friedman explains.
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