Trading for LTIR player
Can a team in LTIR trade for a player who is out for the season to increase their LTIR pool? Ex. Could Buffalo trade Bishop that is on IR to a team like Edmonton to be placed on LTIR? Or would they need to be cap compliant with the trade the same as if they were trading for a healthy player?
Answer
That would not work for a couple of reasons. The first is that trading for an LTIR player does not provide any cap benefit during the season. If a team trades for an LTIR player, they've added the player's cap hit to their team cap hit, and they've added his cap hit to their LTIR pool, so there is no net benefit. The second is that when acquiring a player on LTIR, the acquiring team needs to first fit the player in without them being on LTIR. Once they are cap compliant acquiring the player without him being on LTIR, then they can move him to LTIR. So in the example, it does not provide Edmonton any benefit, plus they would not be able to do it because they don't have the space.
