What is Cap Hit (AAV)?

The average salary a team counts toward its salary cap each year, spread evenly over the contract's length.

What this tells us

When a player signs a multi-year deal, the NHL spreads the total money over every season it covers—that's the cap hit. A $60 million contract over six years counts as $10 million against the cap each year, even if the player makes $20 million in year one and $5 million in year six. Teams use cap hits to manage their total spending within the league's limit.

Limitations

Cap hit is an accounting construct, not what the player actually makes in any given year. A team might have massive cap hits in early years from long-term deals signed years ago, or front-load bonuses to manipulate the cap picture. It also doesn't account for retained salary (when a team trades a player but keeps paying part of the deal), which can hide the real cap burden.

Example

A $50 million deal over five years carries a $10 million cap hit each season. But a player making $5 million per year on a two-year deal and a player making $50 million on a ten-year deal both count differently against the cap depending on how the money is structured year-to-year.