Florida Panthers called out for breaking NHL rule in game 6 of Cup Final
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Leave it to the Florida Panthers to take advantage of a loop hole in the CBA that gave them an edge in the 2024-25 Stanley Cup Finals, this from a team that is known for playing on the razor's edge of what most hockey people would consider fair.
According to a recent PuckPedia social media post, the Florida Panthers were over the cap in game 6 of the Finals by $5M, when they iced a team of players whose salaries totaled $93M, versus the $88M that was allowed by the NHL during the regular season. It seems the NHL does not impose a cap once the playoffs begin.
Conversely, the Edmonton Oilers dressed a side whose salaries totaled $80.6M, an almost $13M difference from the Panthers.
The Panthers were able to raise their salaries by bringing back Matthew Tkachuk for the beginning of the playoffs, following an absence of more than 2 months, during which time he was on the LTIR, a move that was instrumental in Florida winning the Cup.
"According to a recent TVA article, 'Controversies surrounding exceeding the playoff salary cap have been raging for several years, and the Panthers have visibly taken advantage of the vagueness surrounding the rule during game number 6 of the Stanley Cup final."
LTIR was first introduced in the 2005 CBA, allowing for clubs to exceed the salary cap ceiling when replacing injured players. This system drew major criticism in 2015, when Chicago's Patrick Kane missed the final 21 games of the regular season due to injury. The Blackhawks used the LTIR to create cap space for the playoffs. The Panthers are only the most recent club to exploit the LTIR loophole.
The new NHL CBA, however, which comes into effect at the start of the 2025-26 season, will no longer allow teams to use the LTIR as a means of raising the salary cap; salaries will be imposed in the playoffs based on the total salaries of active players during a game.
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