Cap circumvention Nikita Kucherov

[Jason14h]

Having surgery is fine. Going on LTIR is also fine. And if the recovery takes him to the playoffs that is fine

However , if he is healthy now and just practicing until playoffs that is an issue

I am not sure how you can “prove” it though. A doctor could recommend he is fit to play , but if the player says they are not ready and don’t feel comfortable then you open a whole can of worms and no chance the players union would allow a doctor to force a player back

The playoffs should just have the same cap rules as regular season on a per game basis with some small adjustments

[MrMike]

If medically cleared that should be enough. He doesn’t have to play but he should be against the cap. Third party Doctor solves all of this but won’t happen here.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

This will get about as much a look from the NHL as the McDavid elbow the other night.

So the league is just gonna watch highlights of it on YouTube while they masturbate?

[Stud_McCool]

It's comical how teams keep finding ways to circumvent the cap after over a decade since its inception. This, along with the draft lottery changes, makes the NHL look like a bush league.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Pipty

This is good, need Tampa to continue to be good the next 3-4 years to make sure Oilers don't have a sniff at a cup

The Oilers will never get close enough for TB to be a factor.

[memphusk]

Originally Posted by Burning Beard

Hope they get swept in the first round again.

I hope they win it all. That means no other Canadian team wins and thats the best outcome now.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by memphusk

I hope they win it all. That means no other Canadian team wins and thats the best outcome now.

I'd rather see Crosby get a few more rings and prove even more definitively how much better he is than McRegularSeason.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Buff

Forsberg did it in the non-cap era. Nobody said the Avs were cheating.

This is satire, right?

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Just assign a number of regular season games needed to be eligible for playoffs. Easy solution.

Yep, this makes sure a team is cap compliant...if you can play in the playoffs you can play in the last game of the season

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Just assign a number of regular season games needed to be eligible for playoffs. Easy solution.

I thought this too, but we all just know that Kucherov would be on the verge of coming back, and then out of “bad luck” both Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde go down with injuries to cover Kucherov’s cap hit.

[dammage79]

If the Lightning win a cup and get nailed for cap circumvention, they won't care. They'll lose a couple of draft picks. Oh no, some 31st overalls gone.

After all the cap circumvention other teams have done in previous years, this issue is a bit of a yawner for me.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Itse

He legit needed surgery. It's not like he wouldn't have made Tampa better in the regular season too, and I think its safe to guess that Kucherov would rather hockey than spend months on LTIR.

Beyond that, I dont really care that much. Its not like players are going to start going to surgery just for cap reasons if this isn't dealt with.

Agreed its an legit injury and no player would want to be placed on the LTIR

However if he plays the 1st game of the playoffs

That type of thing has to be investigated as the Lighting have 17m on the LTIR

They would be in huge crap, if they had to take the player off the injury list;

[Textcritic]

Holy crap. Tampa's salary-commitments for next season have them already over the cap, and they have only 15 players under contract.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Holy crap. Tampa's salary-commitments for next season have them already over the cap, and they have only 15 players under contract.

I hope no one does them any favors.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Just assign a number of regular season games needed to be eligible for playoffs. Easy solution.

This is so correct you need a Captain Obvious gif to go along with it. I can't believe there isn't a requirement currently. Hell, even 10 games just to ensure something like this doesn't happen.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Having surgery is fine. Going on LTIR is also fine. And if the recovery takes him to the playoffs that is fine

However , if he is healthy now and just practicing until playoffs that is an issue

I am not sure how you can “prove” it though. A doctor could recommend he is fit to play , but if the player says they are not ready and don’t feel comfortable then you open a whole can of worms and no chance the players union would allow a doctor to force a player back

The playoffs should just have the same cap rules as regular season on a per game basis with some small adjustments

Agree with every bit of this. Nothing about this is wrong, unless he is good to go in two weeks and they keep him out until the playoffs. The idea that a player would go under the knife for the sake of the cap is crazy. But the idea that a team might try to delay his return when he’s already skating with the team? Not crazy, and needs to be watched.

Easiest solution is a post-season cap. Calculate it by round. Have a taxi squad to fill in injuries, but ensure your team is still cap compliant the whole way through.

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

And with all of those ending they are still somehow 3.5M over the cap next season with only 15 players...a 20 man roster would put them 5.6M over.

But Yzerman is a genius GM and look at the team he built. Just like Detroit could build the best team when they spend $20M more than any other team. Holland did nothing after the cap was put into place and Yzerman has Detroit doing wonderful also.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

This is so correct you need a Captain Obvious gif to go along with it. I can't believe there isn't a requirement currently. Hell, even 10 games just to ensure something like this doesn't happen.

What if a player gets hurt in game 4 of the season and can be back for game 81?

I don't think the actual games played should matter, but there should be a limit to the LTIR benefit if you want the player to be eligible in the post-season.

Also things like late-season callups.

How about this:

A player can only be eligible for as many post-season games as they counted against your cap in the regular season.

So to be totally safe you'd want 28 games. Cap is done daily so it's 28/82 of the season length in days.

I suppose the one issue is trades...it might have to be 'against any team's cap'.

[browntrout]

For me it's so many blantent attempts to circumvent the cap that I can't see how the NHL can't at the very least investigate this. The Kovalchuk although contract was a perfect example of the NHL flexing their muscles. Technically the contract was legit, but clearly it was cap circumvention, and that's how the NHL nailed them. I don't blames Tampa Bay for doing what they did, but you cant tell me they knew exactly what they were doing, their is an article in the athletic that claims team mates can see that he is literally 100 percent in practices. I believe they will be investigated and that the hammer will come down. Potential to be just a huge storyline going into the playoffs. Becoming a big deal in some East coast media outlets

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Easiest solution is a post-season cap. Calculate it by round. Have a taxi squad to fill in injuries, but ensure your team is still cap compliant the whole way through.

That would mess with TDL acquisitions...which would hurt bad teams trying to sell assets to improve in the future. I think it would actually be really tough and complicated to do a round by round cap without totally altering the way everything is known to work...