Loui only makes 1 mil this year. I don't know if the league will allow 1.5 mil to be retained.

Is it real money or cap hit? I’m confused how that works.

It's cap hit not real money. This trade is accepted

The cap hit for Loui is 6m. He receives only 4m salary for 20-21 and he already received 3m in signing bonus in July and therefore only gets 1mil in salary. The amount the Canucks retain from the salary they have to claim on their cap space for the remainder of the contract. Ex. 20-21 they retain 1mil in salary they would have to include the 1mil on their cap, but they would save 5mil on cap: 21-22 retain 1mil in salary and include the 1mil on their cap and they would save 5 mil on their cap. The CBA : When a team trades a player, they have the option to retain a part of their salary (and cap hit). The team who retains the salary then pays the retained percentage of the salary, and also retains the percentage of the cap hit until the contract expires. It does not say if you can retain more of the players salary than they earn. So if Loui earns 1mil in salary I don't know if they can retain more than the 1mill.. It does say part of the players salary but it is hard to say how this would be interpreted by the legal beagles. The Canucks would be paying 500,000 more than is owed in salary for the first year.