I've just wanted to sort out a few dead cap questions. Let's take the following player as an example:

2015: Salary: $1M, Bonus $1M
2016: Salary: $1M, Bonus $1M
2017: Salary: $1M, Bonus $1M
2018: Salary: $1M, Bonus $1M

Question 1) If I were to cut the player, I understand the salary is gone, and I understand I get a $1M cap hit that season, but is it a $3M cap hit in 2016 or is it a $1M hit in '16, '17, and '18?

Question 2) Say the player was to retire at the end of 2015, is it a $3M cap hit in 2016? a $1M hit in '16, '17, and '18? or a $1M hit in 2016 and $2M hit in 2017?

I've never been able to figure it out completely and I just wanted to clarify.

$3M cap hit in 2016 for both questions.

How is it that I can begin a year with a cap hit for the next year then?

Hmm. I'm not sure. Now that I think about it, I may be wrong about the retired players.

JDB may need to answer this one.

Sorry

Retired players with cap left for upcoming seasons, the total of the bonus money owed for those seasons is applied to the next season, not over many seasons. I know this from experience. Its why you have to be careful when signing older players to huge long term contacts.

In your example I believe it would be 1 million cap hit for the season he retired then 2 million the following season.

No matter how the player leaves your team (cut, trade, retire), his remaining bonus is spread as described above - in your example, the $1 million in the first year, and the remaining $2 million the second year. In no case will the cap hit extend into a third year.

I just wasn't sure what year is considered the first year for a retired player. If he retires after the 2015 season, I guess 2016 is considered the 1st year, and the remaining years' worth of bonuses are in 2017.

For some reason I was thinking if the player retired at the end of 2015, his entire remaining bonus would hit the cap in 2016, but I guess I was wrong.

Thanks for the clarification.