[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

You are correct, you continue not to make sense.

If every team operates like the flames in playing players through injury, as you say, then how are teams sitting players with injuries on LTIR abusing the system?

Both things can be true at the same time.

Players with injuries that they can play through, play through them.

AND players with injuries that they CANNOT play through, often requiring surgery, are held out of the lineup until the playoffs because the team can't reactivate them sooner without violating the cap.

Or, if the abusers are trumping up injuries to have players sit longer,

See, that's not what they're doing. They literally can't reactivate those players, because they spent the cap money on replacement players. After the trade deadline, they can't get rid of the replacement players, so they have to wait until the cap is lifted before they can reactivate the injured players. The benefit, of course, is that once they do reactivate those players, they have a roster they could never have legally used in the regular season.

This is a significant flaw in the LTIR system, any way you slice it. But it's a separate issue from players playing through injuries.

why are the flames conversely pushing players to play through injuries instead of abusing the same system?

Gee, maybe because a team that's $20 million below the cap has absolutely no POSSIBILITY of abusing the LTIR system, because they would get absolutely no benefit from using it in the first place?

Both these things can't be true. Yeah, players play through minor injuries all the time. Broken feet that make you obviously a pylon? Don't see many teams lugging those players around successfully.

It happens all the time. There are numerous stories of players who had broken bones and literally could not play without having the injury frozen before every game – but they played anyway. Players who couldn't put their own skates on without help because of injuries – but they played anyway.

Players are a lot less fungible than you think. A proven, quality NHLer (which Andersson is), even when functioning far below his capacity, is still better than most of the AHL players who could be called up to take his spot. The ‘replacement player’, in hockey, is a myth, because teams can't simply go out late in the season and hire players on the open market. They can only use the players they already have in the system, and most players in the minors are below replacement level.