Brian39
Registered User
- Apr 24, 2014
- 7,135
- 13,083
Correct, but only if you can't fit them under this year's cap at the end of the season.Bonuses that don’t fit under this years cap are applied next year. It’s not like this is just free money.
Let's say we give him $1M with another $2M in bonuses. If he hits those $2M bonuses in November and we can't fit them under at that time, it doesn't mean that they roll into next year's cap. If we can fit them under our cap at the end of the year, then they would apply to this season's cap. He could hit the bonuses in November, we could trade Tarasenko in February and then have those bonuses apply to this year's cap.
In other words, such a contract allows us to fit him into an opening night roster and then become cap compliant at any point throughout the year. It isn't just free money, but it buys half a year of time to figure out how to pay for it. And in the worst-case scenario where we don't free up enough space, then it does just become next year's problem.