Lol at all the excuses defending it because, "it's not against the rules."
Riddle me this, what's the point of the salary cap? To have an even playing field so rich teams cannot spend top-dollar, leaving teams with lesser means in the gutter, yes? By allocating the same spending money to every team, it's fair, correct?
Now, Vegas has a roster that's like 16M above the cap, yet it's suddenly okay because it isn't against the rules? It violates the very reason the rule was introduced in the first place. By being this much over the cap, it's no longer an even playing field. One team has an 88M roster, the other has a 104M roster. That's not equal.
That's what people are pissed off about, especially given the fact that Stone being ready for game 1 is highly suspicious.
They’re actually not icing a roster that exceeds the cap.
Game one’s lineup was at 82.2M. Last year’s cup roster was also compliant.
Now, new deals kicking in (Hanifin), this roster could not exist after June 2024 as it is. Stephenson, Mantha and Martinez are likely gone (but find a way keep Marchessault….!!!). They’ve painted themselves into a corner that way,, and several guys will have to walk in order to make room for Hertl/Hanifin. It’s certainly “fast and loose”, but
• Other teams KNOW Vegas does this, and it didn’t stop Calgary & SJ…..TWO division rivals…..from making deals in which they saw benefit
• The 3rd parties monitoring injuries were giving this side-eye last year and this one, and were pleased after doing diligence
• At no point in 2022 or 2023 did they ice a roster that itself was $10M over the cap. TB did pretty blatantly; meanwhile, Vegas’ sketchiest move - resting Mark Stone - actually follows Stone back to Ottawa, where he was on and off IR from January to March while the Sens weren’t contending.
For all the finger pointing, Vegas’ approach to this never put a circa-then 90M roster on the ice.