{"id":116513,"date":"2025-09-03T20:24:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/116513\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T20:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:24:12","slug":"nhl-gms-react-to-new-playoff-salary-cap-big-change-result-in-less-moves-great-for-the-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/116513\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL GMs react to new playoff salary cap: \u2018Big change\u2019 \u2026 \u2018Result in less moves\u2019 \u2026 \u2018Great for the league\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 The NHL publicly confirmed Wednesday that a playoff salary cap will be implemented<\/a> for the 2025-26 season as part of the new CBA, even if some of the final details are still being worked through at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve agreed on a framework for implementation. There will be a playoff cap this year,\u201d NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said after the general managers and coaches meeting. \u201cThere will be changes to (long-term injured reserve) for this year. The exact implementation details of the cap are still being worked through.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

That means some of the questions that GMs had for Daly on Wednesday couldn\u2019t be fully answered yet, as the league is still finalizing the exact details.<\/p>\n

But the bottom line, as agreed to in the CBA with the NHL Players\u2019 Association, is that beginning with the 2026 playoffs, teams will be limited to icing a 20-man roster that is cap compliant for each game. There are also changes to how the long-term injury exception will be applied in cap accounting before the playoffs. That part needs to be figured out fully before puck drop next month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LTI is separate and apart from the playoff cap,\u201d Daly explained. \u201cIt\u2019s just a different set of LTI rules. That is much simpler to implement, yes. We\u2019ll be ready to go opening night (Oct. 7) with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new CBA doesn\u2019t officially begin until September of 2026, but the playoff cap and other items are being fast-tracked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve categorized all the different, new provisions we\u2019ve negotiated with the Players\u2019 Association, and we\u2019ve put them in one of three buckets,\u201d Daly said. \u201cEither immediate implementation effective for the 2025-26 season; \u201926 league year implementation, which would be July 1, 2026, they go into effect; and there\u2019s the last category, which is the first day of the new CBA, which is Sept. 16, 2026. So we have provisions that fall into all three categories.\u201d<\/p>\n

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman then added that a detailed memo would go out to clubs to detail all three categories.<\/p>\n

But the one accelerated system change that had GMs buzzing here over the past 24 hours was definitely the playoff cap. They knew it was coming, but perhaps not so soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big rule change, and like a lot of big rule changes, there will be some things we can foresee and some things we don\u2019t foresee as far as how it\u2019ll impact our decision-making process and how we approach the trade deadline and things like that,\u201d Washington Capitals GM Chris Patrick said. \u201cI guess we\u2019re going to have to go back to the office at training camp here and hunker down and figure out how we approach the longer-term view of the season and how we manage our cap and what we\u2019re looking to do at the trade deadline, given the new constraints that are in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first blush reaction from most is that the trade deadline will be impacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll probably result in less moves, because you\u2019re always looking ahead,\u201d said Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman. \u201cIn the past, you weren\u2019t as concerned if someone wasn\u2019t coming back for the playoffs. That was fine. We went through that last year. We didn\u2019t know when Evander (Kane) would be back. But now, you\u2019re obviously going to have to have a different analysis of it. If they\u2019re going to be back at all, it\u2019s going to impact what moves you\u2019re going to have to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Bowman at the helm of the 2015 Blackhawks who gets credit for first taking advantage of the loophole with an injured Patrick Kane, using his LTIR cap savings that season to add pieces and then getting Kane back in the postseason en route to another Cup. The Tampa Bay Lightning (2021), Vegas Golden Knights (2023) and Florida Panthers this past season all used LTIR to their advantage, as well.<\/p>\n

The new playoff cap will eliminate that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fine with it. I have no issue with it,\u201d Bowman said. \u201cI think for the most part, it makes sense. I mean, you want to be playing against teams that are similarly situated with the cap. I can understand the concern with players or media or fans if a team has, all of a sudden, a better opportunity in the playoffs than they did in the season, that you could ice a roster that you couldn\u2019t earlier. So I get it. I understand it. As long as everybody has time to prepare, it should be no issue. For me, I don\u2019t see an issue with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Front offices will be eager to see the final details in order to plan ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams are going to go back now and synthesize the information and start to develop plans,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cI think we\u2019ll see a lot of different strategies come out of it and then everyone will kind of learn as they go as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

A big change, indeed. But one that seems fair for all.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, when you look at the 10,000-foot view, there\u2019s logic to it, right?\u2019\u2019 said Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving. \u201cYou play under a salary cap for 82 games \u2014 for six and a half months \u2014 and why would that change in the playoffs? Certainly, there\u2019s nuances and you see it every year where there is injuries, right? Which opens up space. We had looked through that stuff when the (memorandum of understanding) had come out for the new CBA, and we were told some things may come in this year. So it\u2019ll be interesting to see how that\u2019s structured and laid out for us.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Added Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes: \u201cI agree with it. I\u2019ve heard people say, \u2018What if you guys could take advantage of it?\u2019 Well, what if we couldn\u2019t? As long as we\u2019re all on equal footing, it\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veteran Los Angeles Kings GM Ken Holland was at the forefront a few years ago in suggesting a playoff cap. His reaction Wednesday?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great for the league, great for the fans, great for the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Gary Bettman: Keith Birmingham \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 The NHL publicly confirmed Wednesday that a playoff salary cap will be implemented for the 2025-26…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85,3276],"class_list":["post-116513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}