Speculation: What is Season Opening Injured Reserve?

Filthy Dangles

Registered User*
Oct 23, 2014
28,356
39,703
So, apparently there's some nuanced form of IR, SOIR, that teams can somehow leverage for cap savings but I just don't understand it. I've read the CapFriendly page and still don't get it. So I was gonna see if a resident CBA guru here might be able to explain in lamens.

For example, the NYR and Chicago Blackhawks have Yegor Rykov and Kirby Dach respectively on this nuanced SOIR (I'm sure others are as well). Both players are technically still on their teams rosters even though they really didn't make their teams or expect to contribute in the NHL this year. They are only listed on the rosters to leverage this so called SOIR.

So, I was wondering if anyone knows more about this and why this really exists. I just fundamentally don't understand it and how it's different from regular IR.
 
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Curufinwe

Registered User
Feb 28, 2013
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It's mainly so the cap hits of AHL players who are injured in camp and can't be sent down, don't count against the cap.

Full cap relief

Players who are on a two-way contract, who did not accrue any NHL games in the previous season, can be placed on SOIR and do not count against their teams cap hit.
 

Tawnos

A guy with a bass
Sep 10, 2004
28,820
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Charlotte, NC
So, apparently there's some nuanced form of IR, SOIR, that teams can somehow leverage for cap savings but I just don't understand it. I've read the CapFriendly page and still don't get it. So I was gonna see if a resident CBA guru here might be able to explain in lamens.

For example, the NYR and Chicago Blackhawks have Yegor Rykov and Kirby Dach respectively on this nuanced SOIR (I'm sure others are as well). Both players are technically still on their teams rosters even though they really didn't make their teams or expect to contribute in the NHL this year. They are only listed on the rosters to leverage this so called SOIR.

So, I was wondering if anyone knows more about this and why this really exists. I just fundamentally don't understand it and how it's different from regular IR.

There are actually a few different types of IR. "Regular" IR exists to allow you to recall a player without breaking the 23-man roster max, but does not provide cap relief. Long-term IR allows you to go over the cap by the amount of the contract. And then there's this season-opening IR which was explained pretty well above.
 
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Rebels57

Former Flyers fan
Sponsor
Sep 28, 2014
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It's mainly so the cap hits of AHL players who are injured in camp and can't be sent down, don't count against the cap.

So if Welinski was on an AHL contract, he wouldn't be causing us problems right now?
 
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Curufinwe

Registered User
Feb 28, 2013
55,502
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If he was on a two-way contract he would still be a problem but less of a problem because he played 26 NHL games in 18-19. I don't know how may days that was; probably about 60.

AHL contracts like the one Cal O'Reilly is on, don't affect the cap at all.

Discounted Cap Hit

Players on a two-way contract, who accrued 1-49 NHL games in the previous season, count against the teams cap hit; however, the reduced cap hit is calculated as follows:

Multiply the players NHL cap hit by the total accrued NHL days in the previous season, and divide by the total number of days in the previous season (Ex: 186 for 2014-15)
 
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M88K

irreverent
May 24, 2014
9,072
7,022
So, apparently there's some nuanced form of IR, SOIR, that teams can somehow leverage for cap savings but I just don't understand it. I've read the CapFriendly page and still don't get it. So I was gonna see if a resident CBA guru here might be able to explain in lamens.

For example, the NYR and Chicago Blackhawks have Yegor Rykov and Kirby Dach respectively on this nuanced SOIR (I'm sure others are as well). Both players are technically still on their teams rosters even though they really didn't make their teams or expect to contribute in the NHL this year. They are only listed on the rosters to leverage this so called SOIR.

So, I was wondering if anyone knows more about this and why this really exists. I just fundamentally don't understand it and how it's different from regular IR.
It exists for two reasons.
one is you cannot re-assign an injured player to the AHL.
They are players who didn't make the roster, so the NHL created an out for teams so that the injured players (pre-season/camp) don't take up a spot on the 23 man roster limit nor cause cap issues either until they can be re-assigned to the AHL/ECHL.

That is all it is.
It's not something that can be abused because they have a NHL GP limit from the previous season.
If said player played in the NHL the previous year they would then be put on regular IR (cap hit is computed and against the Team but a roster spot is open) so they can be replaced.
 

Ola

Registered User
Apr 10, 2004
34,597
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It exists for two reasons.
one is you cannot re-assign an injured player to the AHL.
They are players who didn't make the roster, so the NHL created an out for teams so that the injured players (pre-season/camp) don't take up a spot on the 23 man roster limit nor cause cap issues either until they can be re-assigned to the AHL/ECHL.

That is all it is.
It's not something that can be abused because they have a NHL GP limit from the previous season.
If said player played in the NHL the previous year they would then be put on regular IR (cap hit is computed and against the Team but a roster spot is open) so they can be replaced.

Yeah, and to nuance it a bit more, traditionally there have been a concern about bringing some guys with an injury history to camp, some teams have opted to send them directly to the AHL camp for that reason, which is unfortunate. Both the team and the player of course would want them in Camp, but the team can't risk it.

Its still not a very wide exception, NYR couldn't have Matt Belesky in their camp for example this year. Since he is on a 1-way deal.

I think its important to remember that the rule that you cannot send injured players to the AHL isn't necessarily there because the players/teams wants that order, it can be tricky from a legal point of view.
 
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Uncle Scrooge

Hockey Bettor
Nov 14, 2011
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Helsinki
Every player on an NHL deal technically starts the season up (when camp starts). Then you start cutting guys and sending them down.

As you can’t send injured players down to the minors, but also don’t want players who you don’t want on the roster stressing your IR space, SOIR is specifically designed for this situation.

Basically the way i always look at it in camp you have 4 boxes to drop players in 1) NHL team 2) AHL team 3) AHL team (through waivers 4) SOIR

Then when the season starts i just forget SOIR exists.
 
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Qward

Because! That's why!
Jul 23, 2010
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There are actually a few different types of IR. "Regular" IR exists to allow you to recall a player without breaking the 23-man roster max, but does not provide cap relief. Long-term IR allows you to go over the cap by the amount of the contract. And then there's this season-opening IR which was explained pretty well above.
Don't forget "LTRI - Long Term Retirement Injury"
Hossa, Pronger, Callahan, etc etc.
 

Tawnos

A guy with a bass
Sep 10, 2004
28,820
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Charlotte, NC
Don't forget "LTRI - Long Term Retirement Injury"
Hossa, Pronger, Callahan, etc etc.

...that's not a thing. Those players are all on LTIR. Conceivably, if one of them felt healthy enough to play, they could come back. That won't happen, but it's possible.
 
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Randy Butternubs

Registered User
Mar 15, 2008
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CapFriendly currently has the Penguins with Zach Trotman on SOIR. According to how CF describes it, Trotman played some NHL games last season which means his SOIR cap hit will amount to something. This is calculated as days that he was on the NHL roster, divided by the total number of days the NHL regular season was. These numbers were 40 and 186, respectively. You then take that ratio and multiply the player's current cap hit by it. [had to edit, as I said salary]

So, for Trotman, his SOIR is as follows:

(40/186) x ($700,000) = $150,537.63 [← is for Trotman being on the NHL roster as SOIR for the entire season]

Assuming that this NHL season is also 186 days long, that means Trotman costs the Pens $809.34 a day while on SOIR.


Last season the Penguins had Czuczman (spelling?) on SOIR, but he had not played any NHL games the season before. Which means his SOIR cap hit was $0.
 
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Tawnos

A guy with a bass
Sep 10, 2004
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Charlotte, NC
CapFriendly currently has the Penguins with Zach Trotman on SOIR. According to how CF describes it, Trotman played some NHL games last season which means his SOIR cap hit will amount to something. This is calculated as days that he was on the NHL roster, divided by the total number of days the NHL regular season was. These numbers were 40 and 186, respectively. You then take that ratio and multiply the player's current salary by it.

So, for Trotman, his SOIR is as follows:

(40/186) x ($700,000) = $150,537.63 [← is for Trotman being on the NHL roster as SOIR for the entire season]

Assuming that this NHL season is also 186 days long, that means Trotman costs the Pens $809.34 a day while on SOIR.


Last season the Penguins had Czuczman (spelling?) on SOIR, but he had not played any NHL games the season before. Which means his SOIR cap hit was $0.

For two-way deals, this is how it works in the off-season cap calculation too.
 
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Randy Butternubs

Registered User
Mar 15, 2008
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Looking at CapFriendly's daily tracker, they don't have any accumulated hit for Trotman yet. But they have subtracted 2 day's worth of SOIR cap from his projected cap hit.

Interesting.
 

Qward

Because! That's why!
Jul 23, 2010
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...that's not a thing. Those players are all on LTIR. Conceivably, if one of them felt healthy enough to play, they could come back. That won't happen, but it's possible.
e37.png
 

Randy Butternubs

Registered User
Mar 15, 2008
29,777
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Morningside
Last edited:

mouser

Business of Hockey
Jul 13, 2006
29,285
12,586
South Mountain
One other thing no one has brought up yet: Players on SOIR are not paid their full NHL salary. Similar to how the cap hit is based on the % of time on an NHL roster the player's pay on SOIR is determined by the % of time in the NHL vs AHL and their respective salaries there. Players who are not eligible for the AHL use their major juniors salary instead.

Salaries for various SOIR players:

Trotman $464k
John Quenneville $414k
Sam Steel $246k
Michael McCarron $125k
Justin Almeida $70k
Chase Pearson $70k
Bode Wilde $70k
Gabriel Vilardi $70k
Riley Sutter $70k
Kirby Dach $10.5k
Kody Clark $10.5k
 

mouser

Business of Hockey
Jul 13, 2006
29,285
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South Mountain

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