Can a player be ruled ineligible for the playoffs?

[Ebenezer]

Is there or under what scenario can a player be ruled ineligible for the playoffs?

1. Do they have to play in the regular season to be eligible for the playoffs?
2. If they are on long term IR are they out?
3. If the NHL rules that a team is "stock-piling" can they be ruled ineligible (I thought I read in the Buffalo News the other night that that is a possibility)?

Does anybody know or have SUBSTANTIAL proof or is the NHL making it up as they go??

[camelcowboy]

its not in the cba, but then again i could have been in another section, Reading that thing is like reading war and peace, but from what i hear it really does sound like that this was a oversite on the NHL's behalf,