NHL Vetoes the Dallas Stars' Hiring of Ben Bishop

Stars' GM Jim Bill announced today that the NHL has asked Ben Bishop and the club to stop their employment partnership, per Saad Yousuf of The Athletic. The league's reasoning here, is that Bishop is still under contract with the Buffalo Sabres until 2023.

To summarize, the NHL must exercise its authority with respect to the 'long-term injured reserve' and the means by which clubs are exploiting it. Teams are not doing anything illegal, but there has to be limitations with what liberties they are afforded.

In this case, a player who is retired but still has an active NHL contract cannot gain employment with another club. A pretty basic technicality, the idea is that the NHL needs to be vigilant in situations like Bishop's.

When a club signs a player, who then fails to fulfill even half of his contractual obligation, that club practically off the hook for that player's salary cap hit, and they have multiple avenues to unburden themselves. Whether it is via trades or long-term injured reserve, there has to be constraints on the loophole so as to mitigate foul play.

In any event, Bishop will be free to accept a position with an NHL club next summer once his contract is up. Meanwhile, he is free to do literally anything else in the world.

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