There is something that the last few Stanley Cup winners have in common outside winning the NHL’s most prized possession… They’ve utilized long-term injured reserve as a means to bolster their lineup for the playoffs and it has worked to perfection.
Matthew Tkachuk was absent for two months after tearing his adductor off the bone. But he was back in time for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and his club was able to utilize that space to get a young stud defenseman in Seth Jones. But if most of the other franchises get their way, it looks like the ability to do that will change.The NHL and NHLPA are currently negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. By the sounds of it, it looks like there will be some sort of tweak to long-term injured reserve and how it’s handled in the playoffs. It’s a trickly issue. The Toronto Maple Leafs are no strangers to using the mechanism. This past season, they were unable to activate Max Pacioretty until the playoffs began because they simply ran out of cap space to activate him.
It’s not clear how the NHL is going to do this. There’s talk of making sure teams are cap compliant in the playoffs. But there is the potential of punishing the cap accrual teams that can create more space that way if they go that route. With players not making their salaries in the playoffs, it was reasonable for the NHL to not impose a salary cap. But when Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks first took advantage of essentially replacing a player before the playoffs and then being rich in depth, NHL teams have been pervasive about getting as loaded a lineup as possible.
I like what has been discussed recently by imposing a rule that says if you can’t play in Game 82 then you aren’t available in Games 83, i.e. Game 1 of the playoffs. I would take it a step further by making LTIR players not available for at least the first three games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs if they were unable to play in Game 82 due to being on long-term injured reserve and placed there before the NHL’s trade deadline. I think that’s a big enough deterrent to decide if having a player not come back earlier is worth it. So much happens in that opening round that not having one of your top guys available for first three games is quite significant.
I have no doubt in my mind that the Leafs will be a team that spends to the max with the hope of perhaps adding to their depth at the deadline. The only issue for Toronto now is they don’t’ have a first-round draft pick until 2028 and there will be only so much they can do on that front. At some point they will need to start developing from within. I think Easton Cowan will be interesting to watch at training camp. Will that extra years in the OHL be enough for him to mature and make the leap to the Leafs or will be Marlies bound? With Mitch Marner seemingly gone, how good will Matthew Knies be with just No. 34 and a different winger on the right side? The Atlantic Division is going to be a tougher climb again and nothing will be a given for Toronto, even though there defense and goaltending appears set.
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