‘Under the collective bargaining agreement, teams with limited salary-cap space can garner a measure of in-season cap relief by placing a sidelined player on LTIR. That allows a team to exceed the $81.5-million cap up to the injured player’s annual salary-cap hit in order to bring in a replacement via trade, waiver claim, or call-up from the minors. Once the injured player is healthy, the team must clear sufficient salary-cap space for his return.’