Usually when we talk about salary around Leafs-land, we really mean cap hit. We don’t care about money much, and the only time we remember there’s a difference is when we want to laugh at the Senators for getting a player whose salary is less than his cap hit.
Another thing we mostly ignore is the one-way vs two-way contract. It’s seen as a status symbol that either makes people sneer at a player for only being on a two-way or getting mad if an AHL veteran gets a one-way.
The Taxi Squad, a short season, and escrow have made all this more relevant, so it’s worth some clarification.