[RUMOR] Stone to LTIR and will miss the remainder of the season.

[rataylor22]

So lets say Kane tears his ACL instead of broken collarbone. Definitely out until the following season. Somehow makes a miraculous recovery to return for game 3 of the SCF. Your opinion of what's best for the entertainment product is that Kane just has to sit out? Just because? Yea I think that definitely goes a long way to growing the game.

[Daydream Nation]

Also saying the Kucherov thing is different, I disagree but fine. Pretending the Kane and Stone things are different is simply wild. Kane was injured in-season and was rehabbing an injury. Stone was injured in-season and would be rehabbing an injury. Kucherov also was injured and rehabbing an injury, people are just unwilling to believe the overwhelming mountain of evidence that exists that the timing of it all wasn't nefarious.

The difference is there was nothing suspicious about Kane's injury and rehab timeline. If anything, there was concern that Kane was rushing his return. Conversely, we heard reports of Kucherov skating with his team weeks before the playoffs started last year. And if Stone rehabs his back and is magically able to return when the playoffs start and it solves their cap hit issue with Eichel's return, then there will be major questions about their tactics as well. I'm not denying that Chicago benefited from Kane being injured but I would classify it as them being lucky while what Tampa and what we are speculating Vegas is going to do is manipulating rehab timelines to circumvent the cap. I don't even remember it being a topic of conversation in 2015 since the whole incident didn't appear suspicious. I don't recall ever discussing it until Tampa's shenanigans last season

[rataylor22]

It was literally a massive league-wide discussion after Chicago did it, including 2 full days of BoG discussions before ultimately deciding to not change the rule, which is not a loophole, and not circumvention, and is acting exactly like all of the actually relevant stakeholders want it to.

[Invictus]

It was literally a massive league-wide discussion after Chicago did it, including 2 full days of BoG discussions before ultimately deciding to not change the rule, which is not a loophole, and not circumvention, and is acting exactly like all of the actually relevant stakeholders want it to.

To add: one that teams voted on and only TBL and I think STL were against.

[rataylor22]

To add: one that teams voted on and only TBL and I think STL were against.

Right. Hard for me personally to feel any ill will toward Tampa for using this rule, when they were one of two teams actively trying to get rid of it to be outright told this is how the rule is intended to work and nobody wants to change it.

[ross10019]

Anyone who believes Kucherov wasn't intentionally held out the last 2-3 weeks of the season despite being absolutely able to play, to avoid a cap issue, is either (a) delusional, or (b) a media type who has a vested interest in not calling out this type of stuff.

The rest of this, we'll see.

[rataylor22]

What’s able to play vs. 100% completely healthy? Sounds like pretty nebulous definitions. Why would Kucherov rehab all year to play a couple weeks at 90%?

[agentzero]

By the last 2 weeks of the season the point was moot anyway.. the rule is what it is.. so is the cap. Teams have had to dress short because of the cap. Tampa held out their best player for the same reason.

Anyone who thinks that teams want their best player in the press box for any longer than he needs to be is mistaken. One game or two we have seen, but several weeks or even months? I don’t think so..

[rataylor22]

Also long past the trade deadline, what was the suggested solution here? Keep putting players on waivers until they have enough cap space? I honestly want to know what people wanted Tampa to do 1 week before the season ended to get enough cap space to take Kucherov off of LTIR.

[ross10019]

By the last 2 weeks of the season the point was moot anyway.. the rule is what it is.. so is the cap. Teams have had to dress short because of the cap. Tampa held out their best player for the same reason.

Anyone who thinks that teams want their best player in the press box for any longer than he needs to be is mistaken. One game or two we have seen, but several weeks or even months? I don’t think so..

Love ya bud, but this is naive. Tampa was in absolutely no danger of missing the playoffs without Kucherov, given their otherwise stacked lineup, so keeping him out and having a few more losses pile up was an obvious better choice than having to waive guys to bring Kucherov back. Tampa was able to plan for Kucherov to be out which not only enabled them to avoid LOSING guys like Goodrow, it allowed them to ADD Savard at the deadline. It was a masterstroke, and obviously they would not have made that move without 1000000% knowing Kucherov was going to be held out regardless of his health. It's pretty obvious it was all about cap circumvention.

[ross10019]

Also long past the trade deadline, what was the suggested solution here? Keep putting players on waivers until they have enough cap space? I honestly want to know what people wanted Tampa to do 1 week before the season ended to get enough cap space to take Kucherov off of LTIR.

Yes those are the rules, you want to bring him back you waive guys, all 32 teams subject to the same rules. They chose the circumvention route, even though the league did nothing.

I have immense respect for Kucherov as a player (I think he's a dumbass idiot as a person, but regardless), but there is no way he comes back on fire the way he did, the very first game out, if he wasn't 100% for a stretch prior to the playoffs starting.

[rataylor22]

Yes those are the rules, you want to bring him back you waive guys, all 32 teams subject to the same rules. They chose the circumvention route, even though the league did nothing.

I have immense respect for Kucherov as a player (I think he's a dumbass idiot as a person, but regardless), but there is no way he comes back on fire the way he did, the very first game out, if he wasn't 100% for a stretch prior to the playoffs starting.

Are those the rules? Can you pull out the article of the CBA that says so? Or are those the rules you want them to be?

If they circumvented the cap the league would have punished them. They answer to 30 (now 31) other owners as well. All 32 teams are allowed to play by the same rules, including this one (can't wait for you to talk yourself into a circle justifying why other teams don't do this).

- - - Updated - - -

For fun, Tampa would have had to waive at least 10 players to bring Kucherov off of LTIR. Would the NHLPA allow a team to play with 10 skaters? Would the league?

- - - Updated - - -

I assume to that end, you guys also think players should not be allowed to rest players at the end of the year? If you're healthy you have to play?

Simply put, unless you can prove, with sourced evidence, when Kucherov was 100% healthy, you're all just being a bunch of whiny crybabies speculating with information you don't actually have.

[ross10019]

Are those the rules? Can you pull out the article of the CBA that says so? Or are those the rules you want them to be?

If they circumvented the cap the league would have punished them. They answer to 30 (now 31) other owners as well. All 32 teams are allowed to play by the same rules, including this one (can't wait for you to talk yourself into a circle justifying why other teams don't do this).

- - - Updated - - -

For fun, Tampa would have had to waive at least 10 players to bring Kucherov off of LTIR. Would the NHLPA allow a team to play with 10 skaters? Would the league?

- - - Updated - - -

I assume to that end, you guys also think players should not be allowed to rest players at the end of the year? If you're healthy you have to play?

Simply put, unless you can prove, with sourced evidence, when Kucherov was 100% healthy, you're all just being a bunch of whiny crybabies speculating with information you don't actually have.

LOL yeah sure whiny crybabies.

First of all, of course teams can rest players at the end of the season, they do it all the time, but they COUNT AGAINST THE CAP.

Second, who cares what the Bolts would have had to do to bring Kucherov off LTIR, they painted themselves into that corner.

You can believe whatever you want bud, just because we don't have hard incontrovertible evidence (what is this, the superior court?) doesn't mean we can't speculate. And it's not idle speculation. Lots of folks out there in the know, including NHL teams, were convinced they cheated.

Anyway enough about this, we agree to disagree, and move on to the important stuff - like looking forward to Martinez being back now that Stone is out long term.

[Dennis]

Stamkos was on LTIR the last month and a bit to finish last season. The Lightning had cap room to activate Kuch to play out the end of season if he were ready.

[rataylor22]

Stamkos was on LTIR the last month and a bit to finish last season. The Lightning had cap room to activate Kuch to play out the end of season if he were ready.

Patiently and excitedly waiting for Roos convoluted way of brushing this off