© Sam Navarro/Imagn
The Florida Panthers are the reigning Stanley Cup champions and are well positioned to make a run at becoming back-to-back champions. The Panthers current sit third in the NHL Eastern Conference standings and brought back the majority of last season’s cup-winning team. Additionally, they now have the benefit of an exploiting one of the league’s most glaring loopholes in its rules to improve the team as the trade deadline approaces.
Florida alternate captain Matthew Tkachuk is one of the league’s best players. The 27-year-old son of American hockey legend Keith Tkachuk has averaged more than a point per game in each of the last four seasons and it widely considered one of the league’s best wingers. But during last month’s 4 Nations Face-Off, Tkachuk suffered a groin injury that will keep him out long term.
However, what initially seemed like bad news for the Panthers could actually provide the team with a huge boost at the perfect time.
The Panthers have placed Matthew Tkachuk on LTIR ahead of the trade deadline.
Florida now has $8.7M in cap space per @PuckPedia pic.twitter.com/D2SLQ9l1QK
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 2, 2025
Florida put Tkachuk on Long-Term Injured Reserve on Sunday, just five days before the trade deadline. By rule, Tkachuk must miss at least 10 games or 24 days. But in the interim, his approximately $8 million in salary comes off the books.
Here is where things get interesting. The NHL salary cap does not apply to the playoffs. So if Tkachuk misses the rest of the season, Florida could acquire players worth up to $8.7 million in salary at the trade deadline and still add Tkachuk back to the playoff roster.
Now, it’s important to note that Florida is not the first team to exploit this loophole. The Vegas Golden Knights did so in 2023 with Mark Stone. Tampa Bay did the same with Nikita Kucherov in 2021 and Chicago pulled the same move in 2015 with Patrick Kane.
But it is a significant circumvention of the rules, and hockey fans are not happy about it. To this point, the NHL has not seemed to care. But with salary caps set to rise and the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire in 2026, the LTIR loophole may soon become a thing of the past.