New Playoff Salary Cap System in Place for 2025-26 Season

Under the old rules, teams would often hold players on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) for months leading up to the postseason, only to bring them back into the lineup right as the postseason rolled around.

Probably the most infamous example came in 2021, when Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov missed the entire regular season (albeit a 56-game one due to the pandemic) before coming back for Game 1 of the first round and proceeding to dominate en route to a second-straight Stanley Cup. Other notable examples include the Vegas Golden Knights stashing captain Mark Stone on LTIR multiple times and the Florida Panthers doing the same with Matthew Tkachuk last season.

While this was perfectly legal under the current rules, many decried it as circumventing the salary cap, as teams would often go out and acquire other players via trade while enjoying the cap relief. Clearly, this mindset was widespread enough in league circles toget the rule changed.

Now under the new rule, teams will be required to submit a cap-compliant lineup for each playoff game. Injured players and healthy scratches will not count toward the cap.

Other notable changes coming this season include a relaxed dress code, allowing players to wear essentially whatever they want to the rink, and players being able to endorse wine and spirits more freely.

Not all the major CBA changes will be going into effect right away, however. Notably, the new CBA lowered the maximum contract term length to seven years for re-signing players and six for free agents (down from eight and seven years, respectively), but that change will not go into effect until Sept. 16, 2026. Contracts signed before that date will oblige to the current CBA, so there are still more eight-year deals to come, at least a few.