Edmonton Oilers Will Be Impacted by Latest NHL Rule Change, Could Change All Their Plans
The Edmonton Oilers need to make some big moves this season, and now, the latest NHL rule change may actually help them to start the season.
This off-season, the NHL brought in a rule surrounding 'paper loans', meaning that if a player was loaded to the American Hockey League by their team, they must now play a game before returning.
That comes after many teams simply moved players to the AHL on paper, allowing the team to move around their salary before bringing them back to the NHL without truly changing anything.
Loophole to New Rule Allows Oilers to Capitalize
However, one key piece of clarification around that is that the rule doesn't go into effect until October 10th, meaning that for teams like the Oilers, there's a chance to capitalize.
According to PuckPedia, the Oilers could take advantage of this using these steps:
-Send waiver exempt players like Tomasek, Howard, & Savoie down
-Submit an opening roster Monday that's under the cap
-Place Hyman on LTIR
-Use the new space to immediately call the players up (while not exceeding the 23 active player limit)
-Submit an opening roster Monday that's under the cap
-Place Hyman on LTIR
-Use the new space to immediately call the players up (while not exceeding the 23 active player limit)
Doing so would allow the team to take advantage of Zach Hyman's LTIR status to use some salary cap space without having to force the likes of Ike Howard or Matthew Savoie to play a game in the AHL before returning to the NHL.
This can only be done between now and October 10th, and after that, teams will need to force their waiver exempt players to appear in an AHL game before returning to the NHL, so for now, look for teams to take advantage of this as the 2025/26 regular season draws near.
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