When I was reviewing the Patric Hornquivst trade to Florida, I understood that the Panthers unloaded $775,000 in Cap Space. When I then went to the Salary tab, I noticed they had plus $600,000 in Salary so I was trying to figure out the difference between Cap Hit and Salary.

Thank you in advance!

Cap hit is the total value of the contract divided by the years of the contract. Salary is the actual money paid for that year.

For example, Matheson signed a contract for $39,000,000 over 8 years, so the cap hit for the contract would be $4,875,000. However, Matheson doesn't get paid the same amount of money each year, he'll make $3,500,000 in salary for this season.

Also Cap Hit counts towards the limit wheras salary what the player is making for that particular year

So does Salary count then against the Cap they unloaded with this trade?

Player salary doesn't cout in the cap. Only the actual cap hit does.

This is also the reason a team like OTT acquired Anisimov for example. Melnyk as a cheap owner don't like to pay their players, so he bought a contract with a tad bigger cap hit to reach the limit, but with lower actual salary so he doesn't have to pay that much in actual money.

No.

In terms of the salary cap, only the cap hit matters. Actual salary matters in regards to the team's own financials.

better example player signs a 7 yr 77 million contract 10 million up front bonus the 77 mil would make the cap hit 11 million per year. the salary would be bonus + 67 million paid out in what prob front loaded so last 3 yrs of the actual salary will be 10mil short .. 10m bonus 11m salary 1st yr .. 21m gone 6 yrs @ 56m