The $5.37 million in bonuses earned by
Leafs players is the highest since the Pittsburgh Penguins of 2007-08 ($6.1 million), and therefore the second highest in NHL history. Five
Leafs rookies hit performance bonus benchmarks this year: Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, and Mitch Marner. For more on their specific bonus achievements,
check out this Chris Johnston piece from late in the season.
All $5.37 million directly translates into an overage charge due to the
Leafs’ use of Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) on the Nathan Horton contract throughout the season. As teams are technically over the cap while using LTIR – they’re simply receiving relief for the dollars above the cap up until the full amount of the injured players’ cap hit – it means the
Leafs are now on the hook for that amount in 2017-18. Unused LTIR dollars cannot go towards covering bonuses, as they’re applied retroactively.
The cocktail of LTIR and performance bonuses has produced this kind of result before: In Boston in 2013-14, the bonuses achieved by Jarome Iginla (who was given a bonus-laden deal to fit him under the cap) plus the LTIR relief used on Marc Savard meant that the Bruins were slapped with a $4.75 million overage charge, eventually forcing then-GM Peter Chiarelli to deal defenceman Johnny Boychuk to relieve his cap bind in October of 2014. Chiarelli was fired at the end of the season.