Stanley Cup Playoffs Salary Cap: What It All Means

Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights, hoists Stanley Cup in 2023

Mark Stone and the Vegas Golden Knights likely aren't celebrating Wednesday's official announcement by the NHL: A playoff salary cap will be in effect for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs as part of the new CBA.

Teams will now be required to submit a cap-compliant, 20-man roster to NHL Central Registry before each and every playoff game.

NHL teams must be within salary cap during Stanley Cup Playoffs https://t.co/iV4xYaPv2h
— NHL.com (@NHLdotcom) September 3, 2025

In addition, there are also changes to how the long-term injury exception will be applied in cap accounting before the playoffs, per Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic, though those details haven't yet been announced.

The Golden Knights used the loophole of the old LTIR system to great advantage, by putting captain Mark Stone on long-term injured reserve in the latter part of the 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 seasons. Each time, he was activated and returned to the lineup for the first game of the playoffs. The LTIR stints meant that the Knights had $9.5 million in extra cap space (Stone's salary) to work with to add more salary to the roster heading towards the postseason.

The new system slams shut that loophole.

New NHL playoff salary cap is 'a big rule change'...Trade deadline will be affected

LeBrun spoke with Washington Capitals GM Chris Patrick about the new playoff salary cap.

It’s a big rule change, and like a lot of big rule changes, there will be some things we can foresee and some things we don’t foresee as far as how it’ll impact our decision-making process and how we approach the trade deadline and things like that.

The GM added that they'll have to "figure out how we approach the longer-term view of the season and how we manage our cap and what we’re looking to do at the trade deadline."

Stan Bowman, GM of the Edmonton Oilers, figures there'll be less action at the deadline due to the new rule. “It’ll probably result in less moves, because you’re always looking ahead."

Basically, if a player on LTIR could come back for the playoffs, teams would have to be more judicious about adding salary at the deadline.

Bowman, in fact, as LeBrun notes, was the first GM to famously and successfully skirt the rules under the old system when he was with the Chicago Blackhawks. Using Patrick Kane's LTIR (and his $6.5 million cap hit), he made trades that added salary, regardless of the fact that Kane would be returning for the playoffs. The Blackhawks went on to win the Stanley Cup that season.

Finally, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving summed it up by citing the common sense of the new rule.

“You play under a salary cap for 82 games — for six and a half months — and why would that change in the playoffs?"