Injured reserve questions

[Sandåsjön Platypus]

Just wondering - if a player suffers an injury that will put him out for a significant length of time, why is it that some teams put the player on IR right away (Atlanta with Lehtonen, who was hurt last night), while others don\'t (Nashville, who took over a week to put Weber on the IR, and Edmonton, who has yet to put Souray on IR after he was hurt last Saturday)? Do the latter teams GAIN anything by waiting?:huh:

Obviously, the teams couldn\'t care less how it affects the fantasy owners of those players, but I\'m curious as to why they wouldn\'t want to free up a roster spot and bring up a healthy player.

[cndrunt21]

I\'m guessing that if a player is put on IR he is forced to stay on IR for a length of time. So maybe some teams wait to see if he will make a quick return because they don\'t want to have him hung up on IR needlessly.

[Sandåsjön Platypus]

I looked it up on NHL.com and found this:

INJURED RESERVE LIST
In the event that a player is injured and a Club wishes to place him on the Injured Reserve List the Club must follow these procedures:

1. A club may place a player on the Injured Reserve List if such player is injured, disabled or ill and unable to perform his duties as a hockey player after having passed the Club\'s initial physical examination in that season.
2. A player who has an injury that renders him physically unable to play for a minumum of seven days after that date of the injury can be placed on the Club\'s Injured Reserve List. Once a player is placed on the list, the Club may replace said player on its NHL roster with another player. All determinations that a player has suffered an injury warranting injured reserve status must be made by the Club\'s medical staff and in accordance with the Club\'s medical standards.
3. A player placed on Injured Reserve is ineligible to compete in NHL games for a period of not less than seven days.
4. Players on Injured Reserve may attend Club meetings and meals, travel with the Club and participate in practice sessions.


If the minimum time they can\'t play is 7 days, and they\'re supposed to be out at least 3-4 weeks, I can\'t understand any reason for the delay, apart from maybe a day or two for checking things out medically. So again I ask, why the long holdups?:unsure:

[Shoeless]

Sometimes teams are not sure of the recovery time for a player and they delay placing them on IR in hopes they can play soon - there is also the fact that they can place them on IR retroactively which allows them to call a player up for 1 game and still have their guy available for the next game.

There is also the fact that a player on IR is a $ saving for the team. Sometimes they want that and sometimes they don\'t depending on the situation. Sometimes star players like Forsberg aren\'t put on IR as his salary is significantly reduced for that time - so it is a bit of a relationship thing with management.

In the case of Lehtonen right now they know right away they will not play him for a while so IR is an eaasy call - in the case of EJ or Semin they aren\'t sure so they wait. If they have the depth to cover without calling a guy up they will wait - but if they need the call-up then they won\'t and take the risk the player is not going to be ready for 7 days.

[Sandåsjön Platypus]

Didn\'t know that about the money - that would explain things in many cases - thanks