Murray in the lineup?

[cbuckser]

[Q]cornelldavy Wrote:

 The Sharks actually had a player make his NHL debut in this year's playoffs...Marcel Goc...he played one game in the St. Louis series and one game in the Avs series, he got a point in each...so a player can join the team in the playoffs even if he didn't play for them in the regular season.

http://www.nhl.com/lineups/player/8469473.html[/q]

That isn't uncommon.  Others who made their NHL debut in the playoffs are Trent Hunter and te immortal Steve Junker.

Brock Treadway's only NHL game came in the postseason.   Don Cherry's NHL playing experience is also limited to postseason action.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/players/playoff_only.html

[KeithK]

I can see how the game-eligible limit makes things a little different from baseball or football.  But I'm still surprised that there's no roster limit if only for cost control reasons.

The fact that there could be no roster limit doesn't imply that playoff rosters shouldn't be limited in some way.  Seems pretty crazy to me for a guy who hasn't played so much as a single regular season game to play in the playoffs.  But in the NHL it really is considered a "second season", so maybe it makes some sense...

I assume that the trade deadline in the NHL is a lot firmer than it is in baseball, where trades routinely continue in the two months following the "deadline".  I'll also assume that there's some sort of rule preventing a team from releasing a player so that he can be picked up by another franchise for a playoff run.  I can imagine this happening in the case of an aging veteran who's in the final year of his contract but wants one more run at the cup.

[calgARI '07]

Brennan Evans for the Flames made his NHL debut in this year's playoffs  in Games 3 and 4 against Detroit.

[calgARI '07]

Regarding the roster limit in the NHL, there is a 23 man roster limit (of course not counting injured reserves).  That cap is lifted immediately following the trade deadline and there is no limit after that.