Re: Thoughts on teams taking advantage of the salary cap rules?
I believe it was in The Athletic that i read Kucherov mentioned he pulled his groin early in the playoffs in the bubble and played through it. Got worse as it affected his core and thought with time it would heal. I'm unsure if it was aggravated at the gym as mentioned above but they definitely waited to avoid surgery which is reasonable. Hip surgery at a young age was career-ending as recently as 15-20 years ago. These days it is less invasive so the 4-6 month recovery time has been achieved by many players including brayden point.
we should keep in mind that Stamkos was put on LTIR with a month left in the season. Kucherov couldve fit into his salary slot had he been ready to play. Maybe it wouldve affected their ability to acquire David Savard (im not sure if LTIR was part of the cap space used to fit him in). There was nearly a week between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs for TB (May 10 vs May 16) and Kucherov came back maybe a couple weeks early so the timeline does fit.
Tyler Seguin, arguably Dallas' best player, who just made the Final last season was away practically all year and they DID NOT make the playoffs. it aint that easy to win so TB still being able to contend for the presidents for most of the season was impressive and theyll need to start on the road for most/all their rounds in the playoffs.
One day I will quit fantasy hockey, today is not that day.