Long-Term Injury Relief, or LTIR is a complex bit of NHL salary cap business. It’s complicated enough, that until you dig right into it, it seems like magic. This summer, the Leafs did this strange thing where they traded for David Clarkson’s contract so they could have more LTIR space. And this led a lot of people to the mistaken conclusion that the more players you have on LTIR, the more “space” you have. It’s become such a common misconception that many people suggested the Leafs could get even more dead contracts and have even more space!
It’s not magic.