Quoting: Saskleaf
What is ACSL? I always though LTIR just made it so that player doesn't count against the cap.
No, their cap hit always counts.
ACSL is accumulated cap space limit. When a player is put on ltir this is the cap hit of the team including the player to be put on ltir (when it is done in season)
Let’s just forget about Thornton’s injury for a bit and concentrate on Robertson.
Now if we were to do nothing but leave the current roster intact and use ltir it would look like this:
Leafs current cap hit -$80,971,408 -this will become ACSL
Robertson cap hit -$821,667- this will become relief pool
Toronto’s new upper limit would be ACSL+relief pool
$80,971,408 + $821,667 = $81,793,075
Robertson’s cap hit never goes away. The leafs are just allowed to spend up to the new upper limit.
In this case an extra $293,075. This is why teams arrange the roster to get as close to the upper limit (81.5m) to set the ACSL as high as possible and get the most relief by getting a higher upper limit.
The issue is, (in this hypothetical) as soon as leafs hit $80,973.408 they can no longer accrue cap so ace as they are using the salary relief pool.
Performance bonuses get their own relief pool as well. When using ltir and replacing an injured player performance bonuses have to be included in the teams cap hit.
If that seems as clear as mud there is an faq on this site. The cba is also available in PDF.