As of Tuesday, the NHL and NHLPA have agreed to fast-track several key provisions from the new collective bargaining agreement — including a playoff salary cap, reformed LTIR rules, and the end of deferred compensation.
These changes will take effect in the 2025-26 season instead of waiting for the full implementation in 2026-27. One of the most impactful revisions is the imposition of a postseason salary cap. This mechanism will close the long-standing loophole allowing teams to activate LTIR players beyond the regular-season cap. Starting next spring, teams’ active playoff rosters— 18 skaters and two goaltenders — must comply with cap limits, calculated using “averaged club salary” metrics. Additionally, the LTIR replacement rules have only become stricter in conjunction.
Replacements now cannot collectively exceed the salary of the injured player, and their average salary cannot surpass the prior season’s league average. There is an exception only if the injured athlete is declared out for the remainder of the season and playoffs.
You thought that was all? Think again.
Other new rules effective immediately include the elimination of deferred compensation, relaxed dress codes and a ban on “double salary retention”— where two teams will each retain parts of a traded player's salary; all of this was first reported by Greg Wyshynski of ESPN.
New rules play a direct role for the New York Rangers
For the Rangers, these reforms directly target a tactic they’ve frequently employed in order to give them a strategic advantage — paper roster transactions.
The New York franchise and President and General Manager Chris Drury have leveraged their proximity to their AHL affiliate to assign players (sometimes without seeing actual AHL action on ice) to create short-term cap space on off days and then recall them for game days.
This effectively manipulated roster flexibility, with one example being how often budding, young enforcer Matt Rempe previously bounced around between Hartford and the Blueshirts' roster.
UPDATE: Matt Rempe has been assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) October 25, 2024
In this instance, Rempe "rejoined" the roster on October 27. Previous uses of this also include Igor Shesterkin and Will Cuylle, and here's how the team used paper moves previously.
- Recalled from Hartford on January 6, 2020
- Assigned to Hartford on January 21, 2020
- Recalled from Hartford on January 29, 2020
- Recalled from Hartford on January 24, 2023
- Assigned to Hartford on January 28, 2023
- Recalled from Hartford on February 5, 2023
- Assigned to Hartford on February 9, 2023
- Assigned to Hartford on October 7, 2024
- Recalled from Hartford on October 8, 2024
With the updated CBA, players reassigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack must actually play at least one contest there to validate the move.
Paper recalls being eliminated for the upcoming year now means the Rangers must pay more attention to managing cap compliance more rigidly, reducing flexibility during the playoffs and — of course — at the trade deadline. This marks a shift that could force significant adjustments in how the Drury approaches roster and financial management.