Gary Bettman announces Blue Jackets will not follow normal salary cap rules after Johnny Gaudreau's passing

This off-season has been tough for everyone in the NHL, but especially the Columbus Blue Jackets, who not only lost a leader and an incredible person, but arguably the team's driving force and best player. While that's tough in its own right, now the team have to deal with getting to the salary cap floor, as the NHL waive the $9.5 million that was owed to Johnny Gaudreau as a part of the teams salary cap.

According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic however, the NHL have assisted the Blue Jackets, officially waiving the October 7th deadline that would need to see them get the cap to $65 million to hit the salary cap floor.

While the deadline has been waived, the team will eventually need to become compliant, but given the circumstances, they are expected to simply do so in 'reasonable time'. This is a great move from the NHL, as the team have had much bigger and more heartbreaking things to deal with, and now, the team need to make up the $1.4 million that they fall short of the salary cap floor.

Given that the team were well above the cap floor when Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau tragically passed, it makes sense for the NHL to waive the deadline, with the goal of becoming compliant easily achieved by GM Don Waddell, as he was already looking at bringing in veteran forwards after the tragedy. With many players hitting the waiver wire, potential trades and some remaining free agents, the Blue Jackets will continue to target players to add to their roster, but for now, the NHL has thankfully made it clear that there's no rush.