Golden Knights Cheating the System or Outsmarting Everyone?

As the NHL playoffs started up last week, one thing has been consistent over the last two seasons: Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone suffered a severe injury that caused him to miss a significant portion of the regular season. The team placed him on the Long Term Injured Reverse List, or LTIR, only for Stone to make a miraculous comeback right before the first game of the playoffs.¹

Typically, the sports world would celebrate heroic stories where a favorite athlete returns from a terrible long-term injury only to produce on the highest level. After all, Mark Stone did have 24 points in 22 games, helping the Golden Knights to their first Stanley Cup in playoff history.² A performance like that could leave many wondering why fans and media pundits around the league are outraged over Stone’s return to the playoffs. “I don’t care what they agreed to in the CBA. This is an absolute embarrassment to our sport,” another fan said.”³ This outrage comes from the structure of the LTIR system in the NHL.

LTIR is a form of injured reserve for teams that works similarly to an injured reserve list, but obviously for a more extended period, and what the list provides the team is not additional cap room, but relief. “LTIR is a form of injured reserve that permits teams to exceed the salary cap if a player is to miss a minimum of 10 NHL games and 24 calendar days during the season. Teams are not granted additional salary caps; they only receive cap relief through LTIR pool value. The player placed on LTIR still has a cap hit throughout their injury status, though; it does not disappear.”⁴

Now, this system seems fair and equitable for teams to use as a tool if some of their players miss extended periods of time. If the player isn’t playing, it is a  benefit to use the resources allocated somewhere else. The issue many are having with this system, especially in this situation with the Golden Knights, is that the NHL’s salary cap rules do not apply for the playoffs. “There is no salary cap in the playoffs, so after the regular season, teams can activate a player off LTIR without cap constraints, provided he has met the requirements of LTIR, which is missing ten games and 24 days.”⁵

The Vegas Golden Knights have taken advantage of this by adding key pieces to their team with the cap they have saved by placing Stone on LTIR. The team added star defenseman Noah Hannifin, Anthony Mantha, and Thomas Herlel at the NHL trade deadline.⁶ The team was against the cap and certainly could not afford these players without the LTIR. Sure enough, two minutes into being activated for the first playoff game, Stone scored the opening goal of the series, which has led to crowds booing whenever he touched the puck.⁷

This has led people to speculate on what can be done about this issue because this tool that was supposed to help teams out is being taken advantage of to gain an upper hand over everyone else. There have already been talks about changing the rules and seeing what can be done. However, one thing is clear: nothing can be changed until the next CBA. “NHL general managers can discuss proposed changes to the LTIR rules. However, they won’t be able to do anything about it until the next round of collective bargaining between the league and the NHL Players Association in 2025-26.”⁸

This use of LTIR circumnavigating the NHL’s salary cap may feel like cheating; however, the Golden Knights are not doing anything exclusive to them.⁹ Instead, they are just using this loophole to help them win hockey games, and the issue for many is that they are a young team that is winning. So, while they may not be cheating, many feel this tactic is unsportsmanlike and needs to be addressed. Others will say they are just playing by the same rules as everyone else and outsmarting them.

1. Why Dallas Stars fans are booing Golden Knights captain Mark Stone this postseason (dallasnews.com) ↩︎
2. Mark Stone Stats And News | NHL.com ↩︎
3. Absolute embarrassment to our sport” – NHL fans left outraged as Mark Stone reportedly recovers in time for VGK’s first playoff game (sportskeeda.com) ↩︎
4.  Explaining How Injured Reserve, LTIR Affects Predators And Others (nashvillehockeynow.com) ↩︎
5.  NHL ‘in a good place,’ Bettman says; GM meetings conclude | NHL.com ↩︎
6. How the NHL trade deadline helped the Golden Knights (vegashockeyknight.com) ↩︎
7. Supra footnote 1 ↩︎
8. Don’t Punish NHL Players to Close LTIR Loophole | Spectors Hockey ↩︎
9. Id. ↩︎