Fans outrages after Golden Knights expose NHL's loophole once again

The Vegas Golden Knights have cleared Captain Mark Stone to return to practice, as salary cap constraints loosen near the end of the season.

Mark Stone suffered a lacerated spleen on February 20th, and has been out on LTIR since then.





Mark Stone's cap hit is significant at $9.5 Million and was placed onto LTIR to give the team cap relief.

This allowed them the flexibility to acquire major talent like Noah Hanifin, Tomas Hertl, and Anthony Mantha during the trade deadline.

Similar circumstances happened last season, where Stone was injured up until the playoffs.

Now, he returns once again at playoff time, to practice in a non-contact jersey and NHL fans are furious with how efficient the Golden Knights are exploiting the salary cap loophole.









Fans can be legitimately frustrated, both at the Golden Knights and the league for allowing the loophole to be exploited year, after year.

The NHL does claim that they do work to verify that those who are on LTIR, are legitimately injured prior to giving the teams cap relief. But keep in mind a lacerated spleen is a legitimate injury as well.

Given how often this occurs, there's debate whether the league practices due diligence with their research of injured players.

The timing is certain to draw ire, as the Golden Knights look to ramp up their efforts in order to defend their Stanley Cup win from last season and look to repeat if possible.

Getting Stone back is a huge help for the team and the 31-year-old, had 53 points(16 G, 37 A) in 57 games prior to his injury.

Source: DailyHive
NHL fans outraged as Stone cleared for practice with Golden Knights