Gary Bettman announces salary cap exception for Blue Jackets after Johnny Gaudreau's passing

Everyone in the NHL has had a difficult off-season, but the Columbus Blue Jackets have suffered more than most. They lost not just a fantastic leader but also possibly their best player and team's main motivator. While that's difficult in and of itself, the team now has to deal with the NHL waiving the $9.5 million that Johnny Gaudreau was due as part of the team's salary cap.

However, according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, the NHL has helped the Blue Jackets by formally waiving the deadline of October 7th, which would have required them to raise the cap to $65 million in order to reach the salary cap floor.

Even though the deadline has been extended, the team still needs to comply eventually; however, considering the current situation, they should only do so within a "reasonable time." The team has dealt with much more serious and tragic issues, so this is a great move on the part of the NHL. Now, the team must make up the $1.4 million that they are short of the salary cap floor.

It makes sense for the NHL to waive the deadline because the team was already well above the cap floor when Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau tragically died. General Manager Don Waddell could easily accomplish the goal of becoming compliant because he was already considering adding veteran forwards in the wake of the tragedy.

The Blue Jackets will continue to look for players to add to their roster because there are a lot of players hitting the waiver wire, there could be trades, and there are still some free agents. Fortunately, the NHL has stated that there is no rush at this time.