The NHL has been notoriously permissive with certain franchises in the past. Allowing teams with very connected owners and GMs to unethically get out of contracts at no cap penalty, for instance. This is widely known. If you allow teams like that to get out of contracts with bogus reasons, you open the door to more abuse. The Lightning are just the latest in a line of teams to use dirty maneuvers.
From a competitive angle, it makes 100% sense, and that's what fans of those teams will claim. But there are ethical aspects and ramifications to lying about important things such as health issues, and it also creates a dishonest culture of silence within the player, coaching and managing community. Over time, you create a web of people owing favors, scratching each other's back, shutting their mouth about certain things or completely going against their professional code. Look at some of the most powerful franchises, owners and GMs. You'll find that sooner or later it impacts the health and welfare of individuals.
For instance, it's well-known the Blackhawks are an extremely powerful franchise and very involved in league decisions. Notice how many of their players under anchor contracts magically have sudden health issues, unchallenged by the league despite how totally ridiculous the situation gets. It is then no wonder the same franchise is now struck by an extremely ugly sexual scandal that everyone knew about for a decade, including sports psychologists, who are supposed to protect the players. and are trained for this. The team and even league officials are now covering up these issues by refusing to address them or even acknowledge their existence. No surprise when you've let the same team get away with making up a f***ing glove allergy to get rid of a contract!
It's time for this old culture of favors, "referee game management", puppet medical staff that obeys owners and the law of silence to die.
