New rule in the works could land Golden Knights in deep trouble!

The Vegas Golden Knights are not breaking any rules at this time, but they’ve done enough for the NHL and the general managers to gather and talk about the way the long-term injured reserve works and what should be changed in order to prevent teams, like Vegas, from loading up at the trade deadline when awaiting to get star players back in their lineup from injury. Pierre LeBrun explained how the NHL is looking at options and how things could change drastically for the Golden Knights at next year’s deadline. This is what he revealed on Insider Trading on TSN:

“The idea from some teams, who have already approached the league about this for next week’s GM meetings, is to have a conversation about the way the system works right now. Is the system working the way it should? So, the league is open to that conversation. You may remember, they had this discussion two years ago at the GM meetings, Dregs and I were there. And at the end of the day they didn’t make any changes. Part of the reason for that is that the league would have to go to the NHLPA. This is a CBA thing, in terms of the salary cap and LTIR, and all those rules. But, at the very least, because of some of the teams reaching out, the league is ready to have that conversation again next week. I don’t think anything will change, but they’re having the conversation.”

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman also wrote about it, following the Golden Knights’ shocking blockbuster trade for Tomas Hertl of the San Jose Sharks last Friday. He suggested some ideas on for changing “playoff LTIR”.

“There have been a couple of ideas. One is that a player who doesn’t appear in Game 82 should be forced to miss time in the playoffs, as there’s legit eye-rolling at someone unable to play in the regular-season being healthy three days later. Another idea is that your actual in-game lineup be under the cap. Whoever isn’t dressed doesn’t count, but those playing do. This is important, as when the cap was being negotiated, Ken Holland pointed out Toronto going through about 10 injuries during the 2002 playoffs. If you couldn’t dress a full roster, that would look insane. Again, the true question is if this is just noise or there’s real appetite for change.”

While nothing will be changed for this postseason with the Golden Knights to come in extremely loaded and over cap, that does not have any limitations during the playoffs, they will need to be ready to face some significant changes that are likely to alter trade deadline approaches for years to come.

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