Islanders Make Multiple Roster Moves

The New York Islanders made a series of transactions this morning, all with the salary cap as a chief concern. First, the Islanders announced they moved forwards Calum Ritchie and Matias Maccelli to the injured reserve, each with a lower-body injury.

That roster move wasn’t surprising. Both Ritchie and Maccelli suffered lower-body ailments in the Islanders contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 17th. Two days later, New York announced that Ritchie would miss the next four to six weeks, whereas Maccelli should miss only the next two to four. Regardless, it’s not surprising that both landed on the Islanders’ injured reserve.

Following Ritchie and Maccelli’s placement on the injured reserve, Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News announced that New York recalled defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson and forward Pierre Engvall from the AHL’s Hamilton Hammers. Unfortunately, neither player will play for the Islanders, nor will they travel to Nashville for New York’s upcoming contest against the Predators. Rosner expects both to be reassigned tomorrow as a paper transaction.

Essentially, the Islanders are maximizing their end-of-season cap space. As Rosner noted in his breakdown, “When a team establishes its LTIR relief pool, the closer it is to the salary-cap ceiling, the more relief the team can get.” Engvall’s recall is self-explanatory, as his $3MM cap hit will hit New York’s books for the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Aitcheson was recalled because his performance bonuses play a factor, whether he earns them or not. The league’s LTIR rules stipulate that potential bonuses can benefit a team’s LTIR performance-bonus pool, so Aitcheson’s $500K performance bonuses are factored in, even though he’s unlikely to earn them.

It’s the same logic that influenced placing Mathew Barzal and Alexander Romanov on the injured reserve rather than the long-term injured reserve. As long as the Islanders can keep their money on the books and get as close as they can to the Upper Limit with their recalls, they will continue to accrue cap space.