The NHL and NHLPA have informed the Blue Jackets that they won’t need to be compliant with the $65MM cap floor when opening night rosters are due on Oct. 7, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports.
Columbus was projected to be below the floor after the death of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, who were struck by an accused drunk driver while riding bicycles near their New Jersey home. The $2MM signing bonus they paid him on July 1 will still count against this season’s cap, according to Portzline, but PuckPedia projects their opening night roster will still be roughly $575K below the cap floor.
The league will waive the deadline for the Blue Jackets with the expectation that their roster’s cap hit will exceed $65MM in a “reasonable time.” Columbus has had a clear reported desire in the past few weeks to add a veteran forward via a minor trade or off waivers, and adding a league minimum salary via that transaction will get them over the hump. There’s now no longer a rush to make such a move before the start of the season for general manager Don Waddell, though.
The exemption as described was exactly the plan Columbus presented to the league pending NHLPA approval, Portzline adds. Evidently, there was no pushback from the players’ union.
The only right thing to do in this case.
Thanks to the league for showing compassion at this time. Going forward this will probably be the precedent if God forbid it happens again.
Will no doubt go down as forever being known as the Gaudreau rule.