Hossa literally retired two days ago

his contract doesn't disappear though.

I think you overpaid Jack Johnson by a couple million, he wasn't even playing at the end of the season. Hinostroza should be making 1.5-2 million, and Duclair should be making just under that. I don't mind the Patrick Maroon signing, but I don't think the Hawks would be willing to give up Forsling just to get rid of Hossa, maybe Oesterle or Gustafsson.

Exactly.

Correct me if im wrong but the LTIR relief can only be given once the season has already started and teams need to be cap complaint right before the season starts so this means that Chicago can't go out and use that money to sign someone else.

So yes they can get LTIR but it'll only benefit them once the season has already started, not during the off season when they would like to use that money to sign players. So there is a benefit to trading Hossa's contract but its not for the same reason they traded Bickell a little while ago. Hawks have cap space but if they want a little more for X reasons, moving Hossa still makes sense.

You are correct. This is the same issue the Flyers had every year we had Pronger on the books still. They had to send all the waivers exempt players down on paper before the season just to get under the cap only to call them back up once they could LTIR him. That's why trading him makes sense. Best bet might be to do a similar swap as ARZ/DET a few years ago if that option opens up.

No, Hossa has his LTIR does not affect the cap at all. Look at the Leafs last year they Horton and Lupul both on LTIR for a total of 10.25m but the Leafs were not limited to a 64.5m cap in salaries for 2017/18.

The only disadvantage of having players on LTIR is possible you can't pay the Performance Bonuses in the current year, and may have to carry the Performance Bonuses into the next year. The Pronger situation, it's one of two issues....the rules were changed OR as I have heard, the Flyers were misinformed about the rules of LTIR. Fact is (at least now) teams aren't punished for having injured players.

you're talking about in season. Marco was talking about not being able to use LTIR during the offseason

But the Leafs were able to use LTIR for Lupul and Horton during the off season. If you remember the the Leafs were close to the cap without Horton and Lupul. The danger was in Lupul when he had league physical was the question if he was deemed "NHL fit". Fortunately for the Leafs he wasn't fit, so the Leafs had 5.25m on players not named Lupul.
For instance if Kane and Toews injure themselves training in the off season the Hawks are going to able to fill 21m cap space with real players. It's just the delay of Performance Bonuses is the only "punishment:
I'll stick to my guns, so many folks have the use of LTIR all wrong.

didn't they have to get league approval for those two? I was under the perception that they got permission by the NHL to do so. They made the Flyers play the yo-yo game with waiver exempt players.

Well, you always have to get league approval, but the fact is that under the current rules, player(s) can be put on LTIR at any time and it really doesn't doesn't count against the cap. Now this October 1, the Leafs may try to put Horton and his 5.25m cap hit on the opening day roster. If he fits under the cap, the Leafs will be able to use any excess space for performance bonuses in the 2018/19 season. If the Leafs make a roster where Horton is forced to be on the LTIR for cap reasons, the Leafs are forced to carryover over the 2018/19 PF into 2019/20.

Wait, didn't Hossa retire? So the contract is wiped out and has no cap implications at all. Or are all the media reports wrong and you guys know something different? Please enlighten.

Hossa did retire, but he still has a 3 year contract with Chicago. So that means that Chicago still has to pay him for those 3 years. They can put him on LTIR and get some salary relief from that but IMO I would just trade him to get rid of all his salary cap.

I am sure that Chicago is wishing that the cap could just get wiped out and they could be done with it all. But sadly that isn't how it works.

I'd love for someone who knows definitively to answer this. I've heard contradicting reports it seems. @Banks maybe knows?

Just because they owe him the money doesn't mean it counts against the cap though. As I understand it, the full cap hit thing only applies to 35+ contracts. Hossa signed a 12-year contract when he was 30, therefore the 35+ rule does not apply to him.