NEW YORK (AP) — Gone are the days of NHL teams stashing players on long-term injured reserve through the end of the regular season and dressing them at the start of the playoffs.
Starting this spring, the lineup for each game must fit under the salary cap, which until now did not apply in the postseason. As part of the adjustment, the league added a playoff cap calculator to the SAP-NHL Front Office App that general managers and other executives have been using for more than a year.
“Once we were going to cap-compliant rosters for playoff games, we needed something that would enable us to do it in real time,” Commissioner Gary Bettman told The Associated Press. “It was an issue that a lot of people were concerned about. I’m glad we were able to solve it conceptually, and I’m glad that SAP and Central Registry were able to create a tool that made it realistic for teams to comply with this in real time.”
The rule change was part of the collective bargaining agreement reached with the players union last summer. It comes after years of complaints about the LTIR loophole, which helped numerous teams load up at the trade deadline and go on deep playoff runs and even win the Stanley Cup.
Dougie Hamilton infamously said after he and Carolina got eliminated by Tampa Bay in the second round in 2021, "We lost to a team that’s $18 million over the cap.”
Under the terms of the CBA, teams don't have to have their entire playoff roster under the cap ceiling, but annual salaries of the skaters and goaltenders dressed for each game cannot exceed $95.5 million.
The projector planning tool, which the AP was given a demonstration of, allows users to mix and match lineups to see if they're cap-compliant. The Edmonton Oilers, for example, will need to fix Leon Draisaitl's $14 million cap hit when the star forward is back from the injury that is sidelining him for the rest of the regular season.
“You do it and it tells you if it doesn’t work, and it lets you pick and choose and substitution,” Bettman said. “It’s absolutely ingenious."
Initially introduced for iPads, the app has been accessible on iPhones since December. The playoff cap calculator publicly unveiled by the league on Tuesday has been available since early February, just before the roster freeze prior to the Olympic break, and NHL VP of Digital Business Development Chris Foster said usage has increased significantly across all 32 teams.
“Introducing on iPhone, the playoff cap projector — those weren’t in our original timelines,” Foster said, acknowledging the scenario-building was first considered a trading and free agency tool before the CBA changes came about. “We quickly shifted. It’s a credit to our Central Registry group. They flagged right away this is going to be needed, and we knew it was coming before the teams really knew about it, so it was their leadership that helped drive this change in the roadmap.”
Daniel Beringer, SAP’s Global Head of Technology and Innovation, said the giant task of importing contract data took a lot of time putting in digital form what used to be in paper binders, but once that was completed, it is now faster to make additions on the fly.
“I would argue if the commissioner would ask for an app for his new Apple Watch, he could get that in a week or two now,” Beringer said. “It’s getting easier and easier to have additional functionality.”
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone (61) celebrates after scoring against the Edmonton Oilers during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
New Jersey Devils defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic takes the ice prior to an NHL hockey game against the Dallas Stars Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Roberto De Zerbi was hired Tuesday as Tottenham’s third coach of the season in a last-ditch bid by one of England’s top clubs to avoid costly relegation from the Premier League.
The appointment came amid criticism from fans’ groups about the Italian coach’s past support of a player who was charged with — but not convicted of — offenses including attempted rape.
Tottenham, the reigning Europa League champion and an ever-present in England’s top division since 1978, is one point above the relegation zone in the Premier League with seven games left.
De Zerbi has replaced Igor Tudor, who was fired on Sunday after 44 days as interim coach. De Zerbi left Marseille in February and previously worked in the Premier League as Brighton’s manager.
De Zerbi signed a “long-term contract," the team said.
“Our short-term priority is to climb the Premier League table, which will be the complete focus until the final whistle of the last game of the season,” De Zerbi said in the announcement.
Spurs sporting director Johan Lange added: “Roberto was our number one target for the summer and we are very pleased to be able to bring him in now."
While at Marseille, De Zerbi coached former Manchester United striker Mason Greenwood, who was charged in October 2022 with attempted rape, controlling and coercive behavior, and assault after images and videos were posted online.
British prosecutors dropped the charges in February 2023 owing to a “combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses” and due to “no realistic prospect of conviction.”
De Zerbi said Greenwood was a “good guy” who “paid dearly for what happened.”
Women of the Lane, a club-affiliated women’s supporters’ group, questioned De Zerbi’s “judgment and leadership” because of the way he “publicly defended Mason Greenwood in a way that downplays the seriousness of male violence against women and girls” and it was “not an appointment Tottenham Hotspur should make.”
Proud Lilywhites, Tottenham’s LGBTQI supporter group, also had objected to De Zerbi’s arrival. It said the decision to appoint a coach “isn’t just about results or style of football. It’s about values, identity, and the kind of people we choose to represent us.”
“When someone in that position publicly defends a player like Mason Greenwood, and frames it in a way that downplays the seriousness of what happened, it matters, not just in isolation but in what it signals,” the group said.
Spurs Reach, the club’s official race, ethnicity and cultural heritage fans’ group, said De Zerbi’s “public remarks defending and contextualizing” Mason Greenwood “risks normalizing harmful attitudes, diminishing the experiences of survivors and sending a deeply concerning message about what is tolerated within the game.”
De Zerbi, a coach known for playing an attacking, high-risk, complex style of soccer, is another bold appointment by Tottenham with the team’s top-flight status on the line.
He is a well-respected tactician — doing admirably at Sassuolo in Italy and then at Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk, which he left in 2022 following Russia’s invasion — but is known to have a combustible edge to him.
De Zerbi takes over a club that is one of the biggest in England and reached the Champions League’s round of 16 this season, losing over two legs to Atletico Madrid.
However, Tottenham’s Premier League form has been woeful over the last two seasons. In the 2024-25 campaign, Spurs finished in 17th place — one above the the relegation zone — though that was partially due to focusing on the Europa League as they surged to the title.
This season, Tottenham hasn’t won a league game in 2026 and is coming off a 3-0 home loss to relegation rival Nottingham Forest before the international break.
Thomas Frank started the season as Tottenham’s manager before getting fired on Feb. 11. His replacement, Tudor, lasted just seven matches — losing five of them — before losing his job on Sunday to end his nightmarish month and a half in charge.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Tottenham fans leave the stadium after their team conceded a third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest in London, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
FILE - Marseille's head coach Roberto De Zerbi gives instructions during the French League One soccer match between Paris FC and Marseille in Paris, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
