Joined: Jun. 2019
Posts: 1,910
Likes: 724
TBL is sparking some "cheating" bickering amongst fans, especially after Kuch was the X-Factor in last night's game. And I feel it is pretty cheap. I understand Kuch had hip surgery and was slated to be out the entire season, but from what I've heard he's been skating the past month and did resume practicing with the team within the last couple weeks of the regular season. I don't know if the NHL regulates who "should" be on LTIR or not, but if Seguin could come back, I'm sure Kuch could've came back if it was "needed". But, to circumvent the cap, he stayed on the sidelines until last night.
I can understand having unlimited roster spots during the post season, but I think it's personally pretty cheap to have no salary cap in the playoffs, when it really matters. Especially if the NHL doesn't regulate who should or shouldn't be on LTIR... then again, even if Kuch was ready post trade deadline, there was no realistic way to force him in. But maybe that could have prevented the TDL acquisitions. Hell, even before that, they were way over the cap. I don't know.
I can't really think of any cases where these big name players (Stamkos and Kuch) returned for the playoffs and had their team 15mil+ over the salary cap. Is this completely new territory for the NHL? Do you expect any rule changes from this? Or, are "people" overreacting and this happens every year?
Perhaps a happy-medium would be you can only go a certain percentage over the cap in the playoffs? Maybe 10%?