I think I can explain.
As of 8/4/12 we are in the 12/13 fantasy season, and as such all players with contracts that state (2012-2013) are now in the final year of their contract.
We are currently in a off-season FA which technically takes place in the before the official hockey season begins. This league has a transaction freeze at beginning of the official NHL season. There is no signing of FA during this period, and there are also no extensions. Once the official NHL season begins, you can't wait a few games and try to extend a player at the rank they are currently at, you must wait 2 weeks. This is to prevent people from using the 2011-2012 season and a few games of 2012-2013.
Right now we can extend because it is the 2012-2013 season and we are using 2 whole season of data to extend, the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons.
Because extensions begin immediately, any extension at a lower value does in fact provide a lower cap hit.
I really didn't want other GMs to catch onto this because I wanted to keep this info limited and thus more to my advantage. But there it is.
Here are the rules:
Extensions: Teams may offer players extensions at any time with the exception of the start of the season when teams must wait 14-days (the player extension can be posted on the 15th day after the start of the season) for current season's stats to accumulate and be used to rank players. Contract value must be equal to or higher than the highest ‘position ranking’ within the past two seasons (including the current season). If a player has two positions, the contract must be equal to, or greater than, the higher salary of the two positions. Extensions must still follow contract rules regarding contract length.
Only players in the final year of their current contract are eligible for extensions. All contract extensions begin immediately (with the exception of the off-season period when the current year's contract must expire prior to the new contract taking effect) and replace current contracts.
Prospects can be signed to extensions in the final year of their deal. But the rates will follow normal extension rates.