Cap Circumvention Penalty in Regards to Unused Reserve Slots

[Montreal Canadiens (Tyler)]

So as (hopefully) all of you are aware, the Dallas Stars circumvented the cap this year by running a team with only 23 players on their roster. As per the rules you must always have 25 players on your roster at all times. The ruling I made on this circumvention was a penalty of $1 million off the cap for the following year per unused roster slot. So in this particular case the Stars will have $2 million less for the 2016-17 season. That being said I think concrete rules should be laid down. I can't see a situation like this recurring with more experienced GMs but if it does I would like to make the cap penalty more severe going forward. I propose to keep the $1 million per unused slot penalty for the regular season but if you take an illegal team into the playoffs the penalty will increase to 5% off the cap per unused slot. The number of years this penalty will be in effect for will be 1 year per matchup an illegal roster is used for. So say a team is illegal for two weeks with 3 unused slots the penalty will be either $3 million or 15% off the cap for the next two seasons depending on whether the violation occurs during the regular season or the playoffs.

I do realise that mistakes happen so when I notice (or am notified) of cap circumvention I will contact the owner and they will have 24 hours to correct it. I will use a 1 strike system so on an owners second offence and any offence afterwards the penalty will be enacted immediately. These strikes would renew every season.

So to summarize:

Penalty of $1 million per unused slot if violation occurs during the regular season.
Penalty of 5% of the cap if the violation occurs during the playofs.
Number of years penalty is in effect is 1 year per matchup the violation is active for.
1 strike allowed in a given season. Any further violations will have the penalty enacted immediately.

[Los Angeles Kings (Alex)]

you should also void all goalie points for that period to ensure that the team is not gaining any points from cimcumventing the cap