After many hockey fans criticized the Vegas Golden Knights for their use of long-term injured reserve this season, coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t beat around the bush when asked about the team’s health on Sunday.
After his team was eliminated thanks to a Game 7 loss to the Dallas Stars, he detailed the extent of his team’s injuries this season.
“We had nine guys have surgery this year,” Cassidy said. “Roster is only 23, nine players. … I give our guys a lot of credit, they played through a lot of injury and trying to find chemistry with guys in and out.”
Cassidy’s words likely be met with skepticism from some fans who were enraged with the Golden Knights’ use of the LTIR system.
While the Golden Knights coach did admit that it was a real benefit to have all their best players available for Round 1, in his eyes, some players may not have had time to fully get back into top form.
“It takes a while to get back up to speed,” Cassidy said. “I think that would be the unfortunate part. They came, and we did get healthy enough for the playoffs, so that was the positive. But now you’re trying to get a team up to speed in a hurry.
“Obviously I didn’t do a good enough job of that.”
The player at the centre of the LTIR criticisms is Vegas captain Mark Stone. The 31-year-old forward missed the team’s final 26 regular season games with a lacerated spleen and returned to full contact practice two days before Game 1.
Stone has been placed on LTIR in each of the past three seasons, which allowed the Golden Knights to exceed the cap by roughly the amount of his salary until the playoffs begin. Vegas has taken advantage by acquiring players such as Jack Eichel, Ivan Barbashev, Tomas Hertl and Noah Hanifin.
However, Vegas is hardly alone in using LTIR to its benefit. PuckPedia’s Hart Levine said 69 per cent of teams used LTIR this season to exceed the cap.
The website that tracks salaries around the league also lists 10 playoff teams ending the regular season having exceeded the cap, with the Toronto Maple Leafs ($14.15 million over) and Tampa Bay Lightning ($10.27 million) topping the list.
— With files from the Associated Press
