NEW YORK — National Hockey League teams will no longer be able to exploit a loophole that allowed them to hide injured players until the playoffs began, then suddenly activate high-priced talent without salary restrictions.
Beginning with this year’s postseason, every game lineup must comply with salary cap limits that previously didn’t exist during playoff competition. To help teams manage this new requirement, the league has introduced a specialized calculator within the SAP-NHL Front Office App that executives have utilized for over a year.
“Once we were going to cap-compliant rosters for playoff games, we needed something that would enable us to do it in real time,” Commissioner Gary Bettman told The Associated Press. “It was an issue that a lot of people were concerned about. I’m glad we were able to solve it conceptually, and I’m glad that SAP and Central Registry were able to create a tool that made it realistic for teams to comply with this in real time.”
This regulation modification stems from the collective bargaining agreement negotiated with the players association last summer. The change addresses longstanding grievances about the long-term injured reserve workaround, which allowed multiple franchises to acquire expensive players at trade deadlines and make extended playoff appearances, including Stanley Cup victories.
Following Carolina’s 2021 second-round elimination by Tampa Bay, Dougie Hamilton notably stated, “We lost to a team that’s $18 million over the cap.”
According to the collective bargaining agreement terms, organizations aren’t required to keep their complete playoff squad beneath the salary ceiling, but the combined annual wages of active skaters and goaltenders for each contest cannot surpass $95.5 million.
The strategic planning application, which The Associated Press received a preview of, enables users to experiment with different lineup combinations to verify salary cap compliance. The Edmonton Oilers, as an example, must address Leon Draisaitl’s $14 million salary cap impact when the star player returns from his current injury that will keep him out through the regular season’s conclusion.
“You do it and it tells you if it doesn’t work, and it lets you pick and choose and substitution,” Bettman said. “It’s absolutely ingenious.”
Originally designed for iPad devices, the application became available on iPhones in December. The playoff salary calculator that the league officially announced Tuesday has been accessible since early February, just prior to the roster freeze before the Olympic break. NHL VP of Digital Business Development Chris Foster reported that utilization has grown substantially among all 32 franchises.
“Introducing on iPhone, the playoff cap projector — those weren’t in our original timelines,” Foster said, acknowledging the scenario-building was first considered a trading and free agency tool before the CBA changes came about. “We quickly shifted. It’s a credit to our Central Registry group. They flagged right away this is going to be needed, and we knew it was coming before the teams really knew about it, so it was their leadership that helped drive this change in the roadmap.”
Daniel Beringer, SAP’s Global Head of Technology and Innovation, explained that converting contract information from traditional paper binders into digital format required significant effort, but now allows for rapid real-time modifications.
“I would argue if the commissioner would ask for an app for his new Apple Watch, he could get that in a week or two now,” Beringer said. “It’s getting easier and easier to have additional functionality.”
