Nick Suzuki and the Montreal Canadiens couldn’t help but dream.
The Habs had just toppled the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the 2021 playoffs, before sweeping the Winnipeg Jets and defeating the Vegas Golden Knights.
The NHL’s second and final season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic – which divided the teams into new sections – and would culminate with a duel between the Bleu-blanc-rouge and the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Cup final series. Stanley.
Suzuki, then in his second full season in the NHL, quickly understood that his team was at a disadvantage against the opponent.
Adopting the long-term injured list allowed the Lightning to exceed the league’s $81.5 million salary cap by nearly US$18 million — which does not apply in the playoffs — from the start of the spring tournament.
“It didn’t help us,” Suzuki agreed.
And all of this, of course, respected the established rules.
Lightning star forward Nikita Kucherov missed the shortened 56-game season following hip surgery but was ready in time for the first playoff game. The Russian finished the playoffs as the league’s leading scorer, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL’s playoff MVP and helping the Lightning win a second consecutive Stanley Cup.
Kucherov’s $9.5 million salary was never counted on the Lightning’s payroll during the regular season. The Lightning took into account the rules of the long-term injured list — a player must be sidelined for at least 10 regular-season games and 24 days for a club to qualify for relief — and maneuvered with its staff in a unique way.
Questions persist
The NHL monitors the system to ensure teams are following it, but many questions persist since the Lightning triumphed in 2021 and the Golden Knights repeated the scheme en route to winning the title in 2023.
The Lightning didn’t hide after their 2021 triumph, with Kucherov even wearing a t-shirt that read “$18M over the cap” during the team’s festivities.
“There is obviously a flaw in the system,” said Suzuki, the Canadian captain. Teams have the freedom to take advantage of it or not. It’s a taboo subject. »
“If you enjoy it, you enjoy it. Otherwise…” he added.
The Lightning and the Golden Knights, who have repeatedly defended the ploy by pointing out that it complied in every way with the rules of the long-term injured list, did not invent anything.
The Chicago Blackhawks placed Patrick Kane on the long-term injured list in February 2015, and the star player returned to the game in the playoffs — along with several newcomers — and led the club to Illinois on its way to a third Stanley Cup victory in six years.
For his part, Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon agrees that this system should be revised, but he does not believe that a player agrees to stay on the sidelines when he is healthy only for administrative reasons.
“Guys want to play,” he said. It would be tough to stay away from the trade deadline and wait. I continue to believe that teams and players act ethically. »
“But it’s obviously unfortunate,” he admitted.
For his part, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly mentioned that the majority of the 32 NHL teams want a reform of the system, but he recalled that the way to account for space on a team’s payroll during the regular season is very complex.
” Most [des directeurs généraux] would like us to consider making some adjustments, Daly said. We’ll take a look at it. »
One thing is certain, Suzuki, who took part in a series that seemed settled in advance, wants the rules of the long-term injured list to be changed.
“Some teams benefited greatly from it,” he said. Sometimes you take advantage of it by luck, and sometimes it seems like it’s part of the strategy. I’m not in the doctor’s office. I don’t know what’s going on with these teams.
“It could be much fairer,” he said.
But he strongly doubts it.