Hawks Fan coming in peace...

The reason the organization was so desperate to dump Hossa to Arizona in the first place was due to the stipulations of LTIR. In order to make deadline deals with extra cap space, the Blackhawks had to be salary cap compliant (including Hossa's contract) by the first day of the season. From there, they could place him on LTIR and have 5.275 million in cap space for in-season moves and acquisitions.

The alternative is to be exactly over the cap by his deal at the start of the season. From there, he could be placed on LTIR, but the Hawks would have perpetually been at the cap ceiling all year.

The organization dealt with Hossa on LTIR for one season after his allergy and it really handcuffed the moves they could make in the 2017-2018 season.

Taking on Hossa's contract with Horton will be different for the Leafs this year, as they will be at the cap for the first time in a while with actual players they are icing.

I wouldn't be so quick to bank on LTIR as a "magic potion"

Agreed - and unfortunately Marner's deal is nowhere close to realistic...he declined 9.5 million AAV last week over a long term deal. He'll need - minimum - something that starts with 10 million on a long term deal.

Not sure what issue the hawks had but Toronto had no issue being at the cap ceiling with lupal and Horton on ltir. Teams can submit opening night rosters with players already on ltir. I don’t think there have been any rule changes so either there was a specific situation (possibly performance bonus or overages) that held Chicago back or they need a better team of cap experts.

As far as this agm is concerned it seams like a massive overpay for a rental on hamonic. I would have the second going the other way and a conditional 1st if hamonic re signs.

Hossa’s contract is cheap in actual dollars much like marleau’s and may even be insured. I don’t see them looking to get rid of him at all unless it is uninsured. If it is I would imagine That a 3rd going back would be more than enough but I have heard rumours that they are looking for a high end piece coming with him. This boggles me as cap is absolutely no issue for the Yotes. To them marleau’s number is 1.5m. 1.5m for Marleau is a steal.

I wouldn't say "no issue". It wasn't all doom and gloom but they certainly had to work within the constraints of the framework. My main point is that the Leafs with have 3 10 million+ players next season. It's not going to be as easy as it was in the past.

https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2017/10/7/16438232/toronto-maple-leafs-have-made-roster-decisions-because-of-ltir-and-bonus-rules-salary-cap

More details with Chicago's situation a few years ago:

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/chicago-blackhawks/why-placing-marian-hossa-long-term-injured-reserve-wouldnt-help-blackhawks-cap

The PPP link is a bit remedial and neither here nor there on this subject. I go right to the cba for information. It’s difficult to navigate but if you spend the time to wrap your head around it you can figure out the calculations and rules. I am in no way saying that I could have shown bowman where he went wrong but there should be no issues spending to the cap, having players on ltir to start the season and making TDL moves. Pridam had no issues in 2017 with putting lupal and Horton (10.5m) on ltir to begin the season while at the cap limit and make moves at TDL.

I hate to break it to you but it sounds like bowman did not understand what he was doing. The leafs are lucky to have pridam who wrote the CBA working for them. From what I have read in the article it looks like bowman may have had issues getting full relief without using all of it in season.