NHL salary cap - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_salary_capThe basic cap hit of a contract for each year it is effective is the total money a player will earn in regular salary over the life of the contract divided by the number of years it is effective. This prevents a team from paying a player different amounts each year in order to load his cap hit in years in which the team has more cap room.
What is a dead cap hit?
www.the-sun.com › sport › 4946023Mar 21, 2022 · CBS Sports reports that a dead cap hit is known in the NFL as "a salary cap charge for a player that is no longer on a team's roster." A dead cap hit came about because of "how salary cap accounting rules operate."