Quoting: PurpleHippo
Brown's Cap hit has not hit our current year cap hit, technically that would happen right at the end of this season and go against next seasons cap.
Correct, this is the $775k value that he is owed and the number shown on the Oilers team page and when Brown appears in the AGM section.
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But if he is traded before then, would that not then transfer to the new team given it is now their contract (and the bonus/salary/cap is include in that contract), meaning a team like say Nashville could make a trade with us and take Browns cap (as it hasnt hit our books) and free the cap hit this season (as no overages are needed).
The remainder of his $775k cap hit would transfer, which pro-rates to $339,063 (84 days left in the season should he be traded today). Edmonton paid the bonus in November, that money is spent and will only count towards Edmonton's salary cap.
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To further that, what happens if someone ends the season on LTIR "freeing up" cap for us, does his cap hit then technically hit this season?
It's a weird one, likely one of the few times in history someone with a bonus of this size gets traded as a "cap dump".
Teams don't go into LTIR unless they're directly up against the cap ceiling.
Teams accrue salary cap space the same way contracts cost less in cap dollars the later into the season you progress: if the NHL deadline takes place with 42 days left in a 195-day season, a $1M salary would pro-rate to $215,385. The inverse works the same for cap space: if a team has exactly $1M in salary cap space from the day the season starts to the deadline, they have the equivalent of $4,642,857 in cap space at the deadline. If a team is in LTIR, they cannot accrue this cap space: their salary expenditure (how much they're spending on the roster) exceeds the cap ceiling even though the player on LTIR does not directly count towards the cap while on LTIR. No matter how many players you stick on LTIR, the same thing happens: Brown's bonus is just pushed to next season.
The only way Edmonton gets out of Brown's bonus for next season is if they free up $3.225M in cap space come the deadline, and I think it has to be a real $3.225M, not pro-rated.