Gary Bettman and the NHL send stiff message to the Toronto Maple Leafs after they try and circumvent the salary cap again

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Sam Hutch
April 10, 2023 (6:34 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have operated near the salary cap for most of the season, with that comes headaches, the newest one hampers their ability to have a backup goaltender.

Before the Leafs take on the Florida Panthers tonight, they attempted to use an emergency recall to get Joseph Woll to dress as Ilya Samsonov's backup with Matt Murray hurt, but they were denied.

Still trying to figure out «exactly» why, but TOR was not ruled to be eligible for an emergency recall in tonight's game.

Due to the team signing top prospect Matthew Knies, they weren't eligible to call up Woll on an emergency basis as it was deemed that they created their � emergency' by signing Knies yesterday
https://twitter.com/friedgehnic/status/1645544752509583371?s=46&t=LmGAXbqIyzJQrKACRO_O6Q

Okay, this is what I think it is: TOR could have called-up Woll instead of signing Knies, which makes it «an emergency of their own creation.» My bet is TOR considered signing Knies the priority, wanted to get him signed no matter what

This is similar to what the New York Rangers had to deal with when they acquired Patrick Kane earlier this year and had to play short handed as well.

This is yet another reason why the cap doesn't work. Raise it by a large margins or move to a soft cap. At this point it's way past ridiculous

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