Guys on IR count against the cap. Guys on LTIR don't. Placing a guy on IR simply gives teams an extra roster spot they can use.

You can't have a roster of 18 skaters and 2 goalies with no cap space unless you're planning on double shifting guys on purpose.

The leafs get away with less than 3 guys in the press box sometimes because the marlies are down the street and it makes it logistically feasible to call a guy up at the last second (assuming both teams are at home).

No IR doesn’t that’s why the cap changes when people go on the IR. LTIR is the whole amount. When on the IR that portion of the play doesn’t. I’m not saying that they will just showing different option you can go to 20 and have a guy in the press box you do not need to go to 23

That's definitely not my understanding of it...

There is no limit to how many players a team can place on the Injured Reserve at any one point. However, players on the Injured Reserve still count against the salary cap Upper Limit. If a team runs out of cap space because of recalled players while another player is dealing with a long term injury, the team has the option of invoking the Long Term Injury/Illness Exception, or LTIR, to fit more players under the cap.

50.10 Player Injuries, Illnesses and Suspensions.
(a) All Player Salary and Bonuses paid to Players on an NHL Active Roster, Injured
Reserve or Non-Roster that are Unfit to Play – being either injured or suffering from an illness –
shall be counted against a Club's Upper Limit, Actual Club Salary and Averaged Club Salary, as
well as against the Players' Share. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, a Club shall be
permitted to exceed the Upper Limit (but League-wide Player Compensation shall never be
permitted to exceed the Players' Share) by virtue of the Bona-Fide Long-Term Injury/Illness
Exception set forth in subsection (d) below.

Then you put them on LTIR for the 10 days lol.

Except it's 24 days or 10 games. So now someone with a sore back that needs to sit 2 games has to have a doctor fudge their prognosis to make it more serious and the team loses him for 10 instead of 2?

I know you're kidding around a bit so I don't want to come off as a stickler here...but you can't carry 18 skaters with no cap space

19 players and $249 in cap space. I understand what you are saying except for Gardner most of the leafs injury have been of the 10 games missed.

Would you carry 20?

Yup. I’m sure they’ve rolled with only 2 guys scratched on multiple occasions. Maybe even 1 sometimes

But that’s more likely a mid season thing as opposed to rolling out of the pre-season with only 19 or 20