Quoting: coga16
It solves their cap situation to start the season, but since LTIR cap does not accrue over the season, if he becomes healthy before the playoffs (which is more than likely) they will have to do a massive scramble in season to find someone to trade for some major cap hits. OR at least from my understand that is would the impact of the LTIR would be for Tampa, not 100% sure
I think its smart they still do their ground work before the season starts and move at least one guy like you said Killorn for cheaper and just take their lumps on not getting full value back for him and move on
https://www.capfriendly.com/ltir-faq
To start, just so everyone understands what we're talking about, LTIR is tricky. I'm not an expert on this, but basically, Kucherov's cap hit never goes away, it still counts toward the TBL total cap, it's just offset by the LTIR pools, the base salary pool and the performance bonus pool. There's no performance bonus money in his contract, so there's only the base salary pool in this instance. When Kucherov is placed on LTIR, a base salary pool of $9.5MM cap is created. Any cap that goes over the upper limit of $81.5MM lowers the pool amount. So if Kucherov's cap hit is $9.5MM, and then the pool is $9.5MM, then the pool basically pays for Kucherov's cap hit, kinda sorta but not exactly, because it can pay for any players cap hit, not just Kucherov's.
Now if Kucherov becomes healthy and is reactivated before the end of the season, it gets really interesting. The team needs to adjust their cap hit if they used any of the pool for anyone other than Kucherov. Sometimes teams send players to the AHL on conditioning stints just to get a few extra days to fix their cap. This is why teams hire people just to manage their cap numbers. The GM has to run their trades by the Cap Team, it isn't like Brad Pitt in Moneyball. If the GM's don't consult their Cap Team, then they run the risk of messing up their cap situation. Teams closest to the cap ceiling are more likely to use their Cap Teams before they make trades. Okay, I'm off point here.
Short answer, yes, the TBL could be back in cap hell if Kucherov is activated before the end of the season.
The playoffs don't matter, as there's no salary, and therefore no cap, in the playoffs. I can see you guys thinking hard on that one. There's rules to prevent what you're thinking, lol.