just look at Vegas and the Stone situation.
- dmnted

Tampa
Vegas
Colorado with Landaskog.

I'm not suggesting any of them "fixed" anything but boy things did/will work out very favorably.

Leaf's might get a bit of an advantage if Matt Murray gets healthy but even then ...he's the 3rd string goalie who hasn't played a game in 6 months. Yippee ...

Sandin extended 5 x $4.6m
- Fakepartofme

Oh boy ...makes me think spending a 1st/prospect on a good DMan with term is a no-brainer.

one thing they , the league can do is what they do in the off season time with the cap. Allow teams to go over the cap by 10%. For injury purpose and to carry extra bodies
- dmnted

yep - there has to be a better way to handle the situation than what is being done now IMO. It just makes the league look (yet again) so bush league.

Here are the salary cap rules you have to play by all season but come playoffs do whatever you want.

No team wants to see talented players hurt & the concept of having 'relief' for a team who has a player out to keep 'league parity' as best they can makes sense but there should also not be a benefit to a team for having a player hurt.

Tampa
Vegas
Colorado with Landaskog.

I'm not suggesting any of them "fixed" anything but boy things did/will work out very favorably.

Leaf's might get a bit of an advantage if Matt Murray gets healthy but even then ...he's the 3rd string goalie who hasn't played a game in 6 months. Yippee ...
- The Law

Maybe they could look at something like players have to play X # of games in the last X # of days before playoffs start to qualify to be on the playoff roster?

- Cush29

Not obvious enough for some people. “It’s so stupid the league hasn’t closed up that loophole yet.”

Tampa
Vegas
Colorado with Landaskog.

I'm not suggesting any of them "fixed" anything but boy things did/will work out very favorably.

Leaf's might get a bit of an advantage if Matt Murray gets healthy but even then ...he's the 3rd string goalie who hasn't played a game in 6 months. Yippee ...
- The Law

yeah they played that Landeskog 2 year break very well

Oh boy ...makes me think spending a 1st/prospect on a good DMan with term is a no-brainer.
- The Law

huh..Jake chikrun happens to make 4.6 also

do it, Tree

Tampa
Vegas
Colorado with Landaskog.

I'm not suggesting any of them "fixed" anything but boy things did/will work out very favorably.

Leaf's might get a bit of an advantage if Matt Murray gets healthy but even then ...he's the 3rd string goalie who hasn't played a game in 6 months. Yippee ...
- The Law

Don't forget Kane in Chicago, which started the high profile cap shenanigans game.

Briebois took it and ran with it.

Vegas says hold my beer...

Meanwhile, Robidas Island residents are like, "Wait, we can play again, we're not stuck here like Hotel California?!?"

It's fun to fantasize though.

Muzzin takes a radical new experimental therapy and regains 100% of his peak form. And he does it in full Ducherov style with no caphit in the playoffs.

Murray has been secretly working out for months and is almost ready to go, full Ducherov style.

Leafs head into the postseason with a free upgrade on defense and in goal. They win the Cup while being millions over the cap. The league immediately has a poopfit because it's Toronto doing it and they change the LTIR rules on the spot.
- GalacticStone

They would. Obviously this is my opinion, but I frame it more from the not just "iT's ToRoNtO!!!" crap. It's legitimately that because Toronto is such a big market and the media is omnipresent, the stink from it would permeate more than Chicago or Tampa. This league doesn't do anything right. They do everything in response to the things that they can't just pretend aren't happening.

The DOPS is inconsistent and probably going to bring back goons and career ending injuries the way they've been calling things? Just ignore it. It will go away. Besides every market hates each other so much that no one can stay mad at any given incident long enough for it to become a regular part of the news cycle.

The refs are caught game managing and it's a publicly known thing that it happens and is consistent demonstrable? Just ignore it, too. Just like the above - because no one cares about hockey the game, they care about their team - no one is going to fix it. They just want an advantage for their market. It never sticks as a story.

Did a team cheat the cap? Who was it? Because the year the media asked Bettman and Daly about Toronto starting the year with millions of dollars in LTIR, they said they would be watching and investigating and if there was wrong-doing there would be punitive measures levied. This was surprising because they had been asked before about other markets and never taken such a hard line stance - but suddenly it was potentially an issue.

There are so many Canadian markets that are also hockey mad that hate Toronto - including Toronto - that they'd drive this story through a wall to make sure it was heard every day - and the NHL knows that.

So, yes. You want a loophole closed? Have Toronto take advantage of it for their own benefit. I think the league is run by cowards and idiots - who hide from a fight or overreact to pressure rather than think, plan and do.

Leafs traded Sandin for a 1st, and drafted Cowan

Tomorrow is Trade Deadline Eve, and so far Ek has only posted five roomers on the big board.

It's sad to see a once great roomermonger go silent like this.

Where have you gone Dwayne Klessel, Leafs Nation turns its lonely eye to you,

Woo woo woo...

Tampa
Vegas
Colorado with Landaskog.

I'm not suggesting any of them "fixed" anything but boy things did/will work out very favorably.

Leaf's might get a bit of an advantage if Matt Murray gets healthy but even then ...he's the 3rd string goalie who hasn't played a game in 6 months. Yippee ...
- The Law

Tampa was the most obvious cheat in the history of sport.

Kucherov worked out with the team for (IIRC) the last 14 weeks of the season.

Bettman was silent because it delivered a Stanley Cup to a non-traditional market.

I don't blame Tampa - the NHL has no problem with doing it, so if you aren't cheating, you're just punishing yourself.

This Guentzal-Lindholm-Boston roomer is pretty interesting.

I'm guessing trade/no-trade it's a sign Lindholm ain't re-signing in Vancounver.
- The Law

I hope they do it. I think making early moves like that, seeing if it's working and then moving on at the deadline isn't a terrible thing. Players get traded at the deadline and maybe they suck. Can't do anything about them.

Whatever we think of it it’s unlikely to change any time soon. GMs and owners have said they don’t see a problem with the current arrangement and they’d need to open the CBA to change it.
- Canada Cup

Noting that amendments to the CBA are made rather frequently, so their concern about opening the CBA feels more like optical bullpoop.

I would say that the solution isn't as simple as, "Just don't allow it!" because injuries DO happen, players get hurt, players play hurt, players heal, players get hurt in the playoffs and need to be replaced . . . Does a player need to play a certain number of games to qualify? Would a baseball like, "This is my 25 man roster for this round of the playoffs" work? It would all have to be explored - and that could affect how the players feel about it - but overwhelmingly most players are playing in the playoffs and they aren't paid in the playoffs, so as long as they get their money in the regular season the machinations a team goes through on the business side of the playoffs is the team's problem.

Leafs traded Sandin for a 1st, and drafted Cowan
- senstroll

And for Gustafsson.
That was a great trade, i guess for both teams.

Maybe they could look at something like players have to play X # of games in the last X # of days before playoffs start to qualify to be on the playoff roster?
- Cush29

For me it's a product of a ridiculous hard cap policy. Hard caps make no sense. Create a more flexible cap that allows certain types of signings above a "cap" (like the NBA) and get rid of LTIR altogether.

They would. Obviously this is my opinion, but I frame it more from the not just "iT's ToRoNtO!!!" crap. It's legitimately that because Toronto is such a big market and the media is omnipresent, the stink from it would permeate more than Chicago or Tampa. This league doesn't do anything right. They do everything in response to the things that they can't just pretend aren't happening.

The DOPS is inconsistent and probably going to bring back goons and career ending injuries the way they've been calling things? Just ignore it. It will go away. Besides every market hates each other so much that no one can stay mad at any given incident long enough for it to become a regular part of the news cycle.

The refs are caught game managing and it's a publicly known thing that it happens and is consistent demonstrable? Just ignore it, too. Just like the above - because no one cares about hockey the game, they care about their team - no one is going to fix it. They just want an advantage for their market. It never sticks as a story.

Did a team cheat the cap? Who was it? Because the year the media asked Bettman and Daly about Toronto starting the year with millions of dollars in LTIR, they said they would be watching and investigating and if there was wrong-doing there would be punitive measures levied. This was surprising because they had been asked before about other markets and never taken such a hard line stance - but suddenly it was potentially an issue.

There are so many Canadian markets that are also hockey mad that hate Toronto - including Toronto - that they'd drive this story through a wall to make sure it was heard every day - and the NHL knows that.

So, yes. You want a loophole closed? Have Toronto take advantage of it for their own benefit. I think the league is run by cowards and idiots - who hide from a fight or overreact to pressure rather than think, plan and do.
- Monkeypunk

Don't forget this is the league that hired Pronger into the NHL offices while he was still under contract with a team. Yes he was done in his career but come on...at least pretend the team isn't just using his cap for LTIR relief.

They know what teams do and don't really care.

yeah they played that Landeskog 2 year break very well
- drexel

Your excitement to be a contrarian leaves you susceptible to poor reading and simpleminded commentary.

Maybe they could look at something like players have to play X # of games in the last X # of days before playoffs start to qualify to be on the playoff roster?
- Cush29

IMO its simple. At the end of the season you have to submit a roster that fits under the CAP. You want Kucherov to play, he needs to be fit under the cap on that day. Injured players can be moved in and out of the lineup as long as it does not exceed the injured players cap hold.

Seeing that Sandin extension makes me want to trade Lilly…he’s better

Don't forget Kane in Chicago, which started the high profile cap shenanigans game.

Briebois took it and ran with it.

Vegas says hold my beer...

Meanwhile, Robidas Island residents are like, "Wait, we can play again, we're not stuck here like Hotel California?!?"
- GalacticStone

To be extra extra clear ...when I said "not suggesting they fixed" ....I meant that I'm not suggesting any shenanigans. I'm not a (frank)ing doctor and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night.

But, the current system, creates this scenario ..and certainly gives incentives to all teams to play things out that way if there's an opportunity.

Not obvious enough for some people. “It’s so stupid the league hasn’t closed up that loophole yet.”
- Canada Cup

Almost as stupid as some people feeling it's their duty to get up on on a soapbox and reply with the same "nothing will change until the CBA is opened up no matter what any of us think about it" routine every single time someone even mentions that it's a stupid loophole.

For me it's a product of a ridiculous hard cap policy. Hard caps make no sense. Create a more flexible cap that allows certain types of signings above a "cap" (like the NBA) and get rid of LTIR altogether.
- The Law

The one thing I do hate is the revenue sharing garbage. It looks stupid, to see teams in non traditional markets surviving on the top 7 teams to make payroll every week. We have NHL teams selling tickets for less than the cost of an OHL/CHL team and having teams like the Leafs, Rangers and Habs paying a big chunk of their operating costs. It gaul's me to see Arizona still operating, after 2 decades and playing in an AHL caliber rink, yet they look at moving the Winnipeg Jets because they don't have sellouts. Then there's the Quebec Nordiques snub for an expansion team. Let's put another team in Atlanta, where it failed twice and ended up moving their franchises to Canada. It's time that the Manhattan Midget should leave his position as Commissioner of the NHL and get a real live hockey man running the league. 31 years without a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup his disgraceful.

fires up the hub?


Garnie..
- senstroll

I miss Garnie, and a whack of other guys that used to frequent these boards.

Dumb, selfish, OCD (frank)s done chased them away.

Seeing that Sandin extension makes me want to trade Lilly…he’s better
- Santo_44

If they plan to keep Lilly they better plan to either pay him $3ish on a 1 yr deal or $4+ on a 4 or 5 year deal.

I don't love either option for a guy that hasn't taken control of a top spot on a team that's been dying for a top 4 RHD.