NHL and NHLPA Announce Sudden Rule Change and It's of Great Benefit to the Maple Leafs

Earlier this summer, the NHL and NHLPA agreed to terms on a brand new CBA, which was originally expected to come into effect in 2026. However, it appears as though a few of the changes agreed to will be fast-tracked and implemented straight away.

NHL Insider Frank Seravalli has dropped a bombshell on Tuesday afternoon, confirming that the NHL and NHLPA have agreed to the "rolling implementation" of certain CBA changes, including a salary cap for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which will occur this season.

Naturally, this is horrible news for teams like the Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers, who often rely on LTIR to stay under the salary cap until the playoffs begin.

The Panthers recently re-upped several notable players, including Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand, and one of the things that allowed them to roll it back was the health status of Matthew Tkachuk, who is expected to begin the year on LTIR. According to PuckPedia, Florida is currently $4.5M over the cap.

Likewise, Vegas, who just acquired Mitch Marner, have committed a lot of cap dollars to big ticket players and will enter this season with a $7.64M in surplus salary, which was expected to be entirely erased by placing Alex Pietrangelo on LTIR, amid troubling injury issues.

The Maple Leafs are coming into this season in great shape from a financial perspective, currently sitting with $1.9M in available cap space before they create even more space by moving out a combined $4.5M when they deal Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf.

One might wonder if perhaps the Leafs can bend this sudden favourable cap adjustment in their favour by potentially taking on a player with a significant salary from Florida or Vegas. Someone like Ivan Barbashev or Tomas Hertl could make sense in Vegas, while someone like Eetu Luostarinen might make sense in Florida if the Panthers are willing to deal him in-division.