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Salary cap forces NHL team to use EBUG on Saturday night.
 

Salary cap forces NHL team to use EBUG on Saturday night.

An NHL team finds itself using an emergency backup goalie on Saturday night due to salary cap constraints.

Jonathan Larivee

A National Hockey League team has been put into an unenviable position.

Andy Strickland of Bally Sports has confirmed that the Dallas Stars will use an emergency backup goalie (EBUG) on Saturday night and furthermore that they will be doing so due to their inability to call up another goaltender. The Stars lost goaltender Jake Oettinger to injury this week and will now have to rely on EBUG Joe O’Brien, at least in the short term, as a result of that injury and salary cap constraints.

O'Brien is not expected to play in tonight's game and will instead act as a backup for Scott Wedgewood, however we have seen scenarios in the past where EBUGs have been called upon to actually play. This will however only be a one night scenario for the Stars, who will be able to call up another goaltender under emergency conditions after using O'Brien this evening.

The Stars are in St. Louis tonight and O'Brien is a native of Clayton, MO who spent 4 years playing goalie for Niagara University, The 28 year old has no professional experience and stepping into an NHL game would be a gigantic step up in competition for him.

It will be worth watching to see if the Stars give O'Brien a shot in goal if they manage to run up the score on the Blues this evening, especially when you consider that O'Brien likely grew up cheering for the Blues himself.