It has long been said that the NHL is a copycat league.&nbsp;Usually, that comes in the form of teams imitating the playing style of the most recent Stanley Cup winner.&nbsp;



Now, it may come in the form of imitating their salary cap maneuvering.&nbsp;



After the Tampa Bay Lightning won their first Cup in 2019-20, they were faced with difficult decisions as to how to keep their roster together and still fit under the league’s $81.5 million salary cap. 



Then, Nikita Kucherov gave them a lifeline. He needed offseason surgery that would keep him sidelined for several months. 



Just like that, Tampa’s salary cap concerns vanished. They reportedly did not attempt to make any trades as free agency opened in October, telling interested parties they were set with the cap.<div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="131"></div>



Even though the playoffs ended in September, Kucherov didn’t undergo surgery until December, creating a timeline in a unique COVID-shortened season that would perhaps keep him out until the start of the 2020-21 playoffs.&nbsp;



With the salary cap not applicable during the playoffs, the Lightning could manage their roster and remain cap compliant with Kucherov injured throughout the regular season.&nbsp;He was placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), allowing the Lightning to exceed the cap by roughly the same amount of his cap hit.&nbsp;



That permitted Tampa to keep their Cup-winning roster mostly intact – and even to add David Savard and Fredrik Claesson to the defense corps at the trade deadline.&nbsp;



Kucherov’s return was perfectly timed for the first game of the playoffs – a true miracle in modern medicine! – and the Lightning were able to skate away with their second Stanley Cup, deploying a roster that was reportedly $19.7 million over the regular season’s $81.5 million cap.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="159"></div>



With the speculation coming Thursday that <a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/ice-breakers-could-stone-injury-open-space-for-vegas-to-activate-eichel/">Mark Stone could be headed to LTIR with a degenerative back condition</a>, could it be that the cap-starved Vegas Golden Knights have found their Kucherov-ian savior?



The Golden Knights traded for Jack Eichel on Nov. 4 with no salary cap space to add him and no obvious path to activate his $10 million cap hit once he was healthy enough to return to the ice following an unprecedented artificial disc replacement surgery in his neck.



Eichel has been on LTIR since his November acquisition. He has been practicing with the club for more than a month and appears to be close to a return.



Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon said the day they acquired Eichel: “You do have to ask yourself what happens if we return to full health, and yet sometimes you never return to full health.”<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="143"></div>



Perhaps that was McCrimmon’s way of foreshadowing what was to come. He would have known then the severity of Stone’s back injury: Stone missed from Oct. 14 to Nov. 13 with the same wonky back that coach Peter DeBoer confirmed to reporters on Wednesday has been reaggravated.



If Stone were to move onto LTIR for the balance of the regular season, leaving just about enough room to add Eichel and defenseman Alec Martinez, and then Stone could somehow complete his rehab in time to join the Knights for the playoffs, it would be eerily similar to Tampa’s Kucherov cap wizardry. The Golden Knights would not need to trade any players, simply send one forward to the AHL or place him on waivers, and they would be cap compliant then.



Let me be clear.&nbsp;<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="132"></div>



If that’s the way things play out in Vegas, I’m not suggesting Vegas will be doing anything nefarious, just as there was nothing offside about Tampa’s handling of their injury situation last year.&nbsp;It’s a general manager’s job to use the mechanisms available to put the best team possible on the ice. 



I’m also not suggesting, for a second, that Stone is not legitimately injured. He has missed games over four separate stints this season with the back injury. It would be prudent for him to rest and rehab his injury to be ready for the most critical part of the season.



Managing player injuries in a way that ultimately provides a cap advantage is a perfectly permissible action to take under the CBA.



I’m just not convinced that’s what the NHL intended with the rule or what fans should want for the game.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="4" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="144"></div>



The salary cap has multiple functions, but one of the core tenets is to create competitive balance among the 32 teams.&nbsp;LTIR was developed so that teams could have the cap flexibility to replace injured players.&nbsp; 



By not having the salary cap apply to the playoffs, presumably because the players do not get paid past the end of the regular season, the NHL has created a scenario where teams with injured players cannot just replace players, but if they time the injury return correctly, they can add players for the playoffs.&nbsp;



Maybe it is just coincidence that this scenario has the potential to play out in back-to-back seasons.&nbsp;



A big reason why the Kucherov scenario passed the smell test for the league – which reportedly investigated and reviewed medical records as part of the process, but found no foul play – was because the shortened 56-game season was a one-off. What team would volunteer to go without arguably its best player for an entire 82-game season?<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="5" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="166"></div>



Teams still have to be able to withstand injuries to star players and qualify for the playoffs for these cap machinations to have any relevance.&nbsp;



That said, this feels like it’s something we are going to see more of, doesn’t it?&nbsp;



A player like Stone may in the past have played through pain and waited to undergo offseason surgery to correct what ails his back.&nbsp;He wouldn’t have wanted to let his team down.&nbsp;



Now, going into LTIR means he can actually help his team by being injured, as it allows the club to activate what his team believes is one of the best centers in the league without trading away valuable pieces like, say, original Misfits Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault.&nbsp;



Remember, players can only be placed on IR or LTIR with their consent.&nbsp;A player has the right to grieve an injury designation if a team doesn’t have that consent.&nbsp;Players like Kucherov or Stone, who have contracts which guarantee their salary not just in the injury year but well beyond, can easily see the merits of working with the team to keep the roster intact and decide when they go on injured reserve and when they return.&nbsp;&nbsp;<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="6" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="197"></div>



It’s a loophole I think the league needs to at least consider closing.&nbsp;



There are two ways I think it could be addressed.&nbsp;First, the NHL could simply make the salary cap applicable through the playoffs.&nbsp;Teams would still be able to replace injured players, but those injured players couldn’t return for the playoffs without the team making moves to remain compliant.&nbsp;



For some added flexibility, the league could exempt the so-called “black aces” – players who have spent the majority of the season in the AHL –&nbsp; from counting toward the cap, in the same manner the taxi squad has worked during these COVID-19 seasons, but otherwise teams would be forced to adhere to the same cap rules in the playoffs as during the regular season.



Another option might be to prevent a player that is injured before the trade deadline from being added to a playoff roster unless there is space to add him before the end of the regular season. In other words, that player would have needed to fit under the salary cap’s upper limit on the final day of regular season – even if he wasn’t physically able to play then.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="7" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="194"></div>



There are multiple ways to address the issue, if the NHL so desires.



In the meantime, we will be watching closely to see if history repeats itself, and if imitation is indeed the best form of flattery.



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Chris Gear&nbsp;<a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/daily-faceoff-adds-former-vancouver-canucks-agm-chris-gear-as-contributor/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">joined Daily Faceoff in January&nbsp;</a>after a 12-year run with the Vancouver Canucks, most recently as the club’s Assistant General Manager and Chief Legal Officer. Before migrating over to the hockey operations department, where his responsibilities included contract negotiations, CBA compliance, assisting with roster and salary cap management and governance for the AHL franchise, Gear was the Canucks’ vice president and general counsel.



<a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/author/chrisgear/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here</a>&nbsp;to read Gear’s other&nbsp;Daily Faceoff&nbsp;stories.