The salary cap doesn’t matter in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It always has been. But this year it seems to matter more.

A whole bunch of really good players on very good teams are going to drop off the long-term injured reserve list around mid-May when the playoffs begin.

Like a miracle.

Switching to LTIR requires a player to miss at least 10 games and 24 days. In return, the team can use the player’s salary to replace him, either by trade or by call-ups. The condition: when the player returns, he must go under the hood. Unless of course he returns before the start of the playoffs.

Tampa was the best example, sidelining Nikita Kucherov (hip surgery) for the entire season, a season in which the Lightning was in a particular crunch that could have cost them some good young players until move. Steve Stamkos’ mid-season injury also gave the Lightning some wiggle room on the deadline.

The Maple Leafs too. Frederik Andersen’s knee injury – remember when it wasn’t serious and he would come back anytime? – created space for maturing acquisitions Nick Foligno, David Rittich and Ben Hutton. Andersen, by the way, will be healthy enough to play for the Marlies in a conditioning stint ahead of his return to the Leafs’ lineup, something that doesn’t look like it will go into the playoffs.

Ditto the Penguins and Evgeni Malkin, the Capitals and Michal Kempny.

No one doubts the veracity of the wounds. And who else but the player could really know how injured he is and when he is ready to return? Still, it all smacks of the cap bypass if they all come back just in time for the playoffs, against the spirit of fair play.

It scandalizes some fans and media, but guess what? No general manager cares.

“I don’t think anyone is motivated enough to have a problem with this because they might need help someday,” one club executive told me.

In fact, they admire the GMs who pulled it off, adding depth to get them through a grueling season and even more grueling playoffs.

“The Tampa thing, I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “If you’re confident enough to go through the trouble of losing a Hart Trophy winner for the whole season, that’s enough. You have to go through the season without this guy. “

This year, the focus was more on calisthenics – due to the pandemic, a flat cap, the presence of players from the taxi team, and exaggerated waiver requests. The Blues are above the cap in part because they have a “retired” Alexander Steen, at $ 5.75 million (US), on the long-term injured reserve. A bit like the Leafs and Stephane Robidas a few years ago.

And maybe if it gets enough attention, Commissioner Gary Bettman could take a look at it. But why would he do it? First of all, there are no salaries paid in the playoffs, only bonuses that are a fraction of what top players earn. His concern through three lockouts has always been to keep costs down and create cost certainty. Mission accomplished on this front.

Right now, Bettman is more concerned with making sure the season is played, the playoffs over, the sponsors satisfied, and the TV contracts fulfilled. He is looking for ways to regenerate the income lost over the past two seasons.

Fighting for lopsided playoff rosters would be an unnecessary distraction.

AROUND HOCKEY

Auston Matthews is averaging 0.78 goals per game in 2020-21, on track to be the fourth different player in the past 30 years to produce at that rate or more. Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin are the others. He scored 11 game-winners, tied for the most in Leafs history. And he scored 22% of Toronto’s goals. It may not yet be enough for Matthews to win the Hart Trophy. It’s because of Connor McDavid. He has a 100-point chance in a 56-game season. As Gretzky told Sportsnet’s Mark Spector: “What he does today is much more difficult than I am.”

If the Leafs went 7-3-1, they would likely protect Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander, Alex Kerfoot, Adam Brooks, Pierre Engvall, Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, Jake Muzzin and Jack Campbell. This would expose Justin Holl and Travis Dermott.

If they go 8-1, they would likely add Holl to the Protected List, exposing Kerfoot, Brooks and Engvall alongside Dermott. Michael Hutchinson qualifies as the goaltender the Leafs would expose.

The signing of one of their pending UFAs before July 21 could modify these lists. Signing Andersen, for example, could expose Campbell as only one goalie can be protected.