There are two pieces of information that need to be understood before I discuss these two scenarios. The first is that the Flyers currently sit $2,053,522 over the upper limit of the salary cap. The second is that every team must be within the $64.3 million upper limit of the salary cap by last day of the off-season (excluding performance bonuses). That day is the last day of training camp.
On the last day of training camp, the Flyers have a cap payroll of $66,353,522 (excluding performance bonuses). Chris Pronger is placed on LTIR. By doing so, the Flyers will be deemed to have already replaced him and will not be eligible for further relief. This is because the team’s cap payroll exceeded the upper limit. If Pronger stays on LTIR all season, the cap payroll of the Flyers may not exceed $66,353,522.
In layman’s terms, by embarking upon this scenario the Flyers will effectively only be able to exceed the salary cap by $2,053,522 under Chris Pronger’s LTIR exemption.