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Explaining Season-Opening Injured Reserve & How That Impacts Islanders
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- Explaining Season-Opening Injured Reserve & How That Impacts Islanders
EAST MEADOW, NY --By Monday at 5 PM ET, the New York Islanders and the 31 NHL teams must submit their salary-cap-compliant rosters to the league office.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov , who is already on Injured Reserve (IR) as he works his way back from knee surgery, will remain there, which creates the roster spot for backup goaltender David Rittich.
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Forward Pierre Engvall , who had offseason hip surgery, will likely land on IR as well, which creates a roster spot for an extra forward. As of now, it appears that Kyle MacLean and Marc Gatcomb are the two extra forwards.
You may be asking, "Why don't the Islanders just put Engvall and his $3 million and Varlamov and his $2.75 million on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) to allow them to go over the salary cap by $5.75 million?
The Islanders are currently cap compliant, so unless they planned on adding a player via trade or waivers, there's no need to go the LTIR route, especially because that would eliminate their ability to accrue deadline cap space.
Cap accrual is what allows teams to have a greater cap space at the NHL Trade Deadline than they had at the start of the season.
Understanding Salary Cap Accrual & Islanders Financial Situation
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When it comes to the Islanders' final roster trim, forward Calum Ritchie and defenseman Isaiah George seemed like the two players who would not make the team.
Ritchie's injury -- he's out 1-2 weeks with a lower-body injury -- now impacts his ability to head to Bridgeport.
And if you look at the Islanders' roster, you'll see three other players who can't go to the AHL just yet due to injuries.
Per the CBA, teams can't send down or waive players who are injured unless they're going on a conditioning stint. Even then, if a player requires waivers, they must be waived to remain in the AHL.
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That brings us to defenseman Ethan Bear and forwards Jesse Nurmi and Daylan Kuefler, who are still on the Islanders' roster. Do they count against the roster and cap hit?
Great question.
The answer is no, and that's because of something called Season-Opening Injured Reserve (SOIR).
SOIR is a roster tool that helps teams deal with training camp injuries to players who weren't going to make the NHL roster. It allows players like these three — and potentially Ritchie — to remain on the NHL roster without taking up roster spots or counting against the salary cap.
The biggest difference between SOIR and LTIR, outside of the timetable, is this: there's no minimum time a player must spend on SOIR, whereas LTIR requires a player to miss at least 10 games and 24 days. Functionally, SOIR prorates players based on the number of days spent on the roster last season (which also affects their salary). , while LTIR increases the cap ceiling.
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There are eligibility rules, of course. A player can only go on SOIR if they didn't play 50 NHL games the prior season and are on a two-way contract.
Neither Bear, Nurmi, nor Kuefler saw NHL action in 2024–25, and all three are on two-way deals. Bear signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000 ($325,000 AHL). Nurmi and Kuefler are both signed to entry-level contracts, which are automatically two-way.
The Islanders could also place Ritchie on SOIR to open the season, since he's on an ELC.
In Ritchie's case, he will have a cap hit if he's on SOIR. He spent 16 days on the roster last season with Colorado ; his cap hit will be prorated accordingly.
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Now, unlike Ritchie, Nurmi, and Kuefler, Bear is not waiver exempt. That means whenever he's activated from SOIR, he'll need waivers to head to Bridgeport.
To summarize: the Islanders will likely open the season with a 23-man roster consisting of 14 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goaltenders. Varlamov and Engvall will start on IR, while Ritchie, Nurmi, Kuefler, and Bear will be on SOIR. That would leave the Islanders with $532,472 in available cap space, while still being eligible to accrue more.
