Quoting: palhal
What the fascination trading Horton? He means nothing cap wise.
I've been trying to get to the bottom of this for a while now but its hard when all the info isn't easily find-able. So with what I have been able to gather, most times 9/10, it makes no difference to teams. The 1/10 time it may make a difference is only if a few specific parameters are met. (Once again, I need someone to refute this for me cuz Im not 100% sure).
Specific scenario example for Toronto:
In the off-season, teams are given a 10-15% cap ceiling bonus to help with player movement, signings, etc. But in the off season, there is no LTIR though. (I think). So in the off season, Hortons cap hit does affect the Leafs salary cap for its full hit but since the have the cap inflator, it usually doesn't hurt them. But if the Leafs were already a cap ceiling team with not enough cap coming off their books as there is new contract coming on (Marner, Kap, etc) and when those guys are signed it pushes them past the inflated 10-15% bonus cap ceiling, they wouldn't be cap compliant anymore. So in this scenario, in order to resign Marner for example, they'd have to get rid of some cap in order to actually be able to sign him and stay cap compliant. Obviously they could simply tell Marner that they'll make his contract official once they are able to put Horton on LTIR again or simply move other players instead but those are the options they have. So like I said it would be a very specific scenario for it really to effect them but it could technically make things harder for them when it comes to resigning Marner, Kapanen, Johnsson and or any potential UFA's.
If someone who knows for a fact this is wrong or right could refute this, I'd really appreciate it as I've been trying to figure it out for a while myself.