Why have a salary cap at all if you are going to throw it away during the most important part of the season?
Why are we paying massive cap penalties for cap evasion, again. Something about a level playing field, except it doesn't matter during playoffs, for some reason.
The whole situation is completely ridiculous.
MN is paying massive penalties due to buyouts. Which was a choice made by the GM of the team. There were no penalties other than those that were self inflicted. The cap is there for the season. The NHL is currently in the Postseason; which literally means after the season.
The cap doesn't matter now because the season is over and all the salary has been paid. The money the players make now is a different pool and the high priced players are making pennies on the dollar compared to their season pay.
MN iced a Playoff team last year that would have been over the cap. There was no outrage on here about that. Instead the GM was lauded for weaponizing the cap space for the team's benefit.
If things had worked out differently this year, MN could have done it again and been right there with VGK, TB, and COL for going over the cap for a Playoff roster. The outrage would then turn the MN fans defending the team having a $90m roster.
Every team plays under the same rules (CBA), so the playing field is equal. Not knowing or using those rules to your advantage isn't any different than KC (knowing) and SF (not knowing) the OT rules in the Super Bowl this season.