History of salary bonuses

[alko]

Now can only rookies and veteran players 35+ have bonuses included in their contracts.

How was it before the Big Lockout? Were there any special bonuses by star players?

Click to read more...

 

[Michael Farkas]

You could get bonuses for anything really before 2004...

It may seem small potatoes for players who earn up to $80,000 each per game, but each Devil on the team bonus plan is said to make $1,000 each time they shut out opponents and $500 for each one-goal game.

https://nypost.com/2003/02/11/for-devils-defense-pay/

At the time of the incident, McKenzie was a rookie toiling for the Hartford Whalers and, following the final buzzer of the final game of the season, he waited for everyone to leave the ice, including all trainers, then approached Fraser.

“He said to me, very quietly, ‘Kerry, if I told you to f— off, would you give me a 10-minute misconduct?’ ” Fraser recalled. “It was a nothing game, nobody was mad, and Jim was such a gentle giant, a bona fide respectful tough guy. I laughed and said, ‘You’re kidding, right?’

“He said, ‘Kerry, I’ve got a bonus in my contract for penalty minutes, I’m four minutes short, and the f—ing coach never played me one shift tonight.’

“I said, ‘What did you say?’
“He said, ‘f— off.’
“I said, ‘Say it like you mean it.’
“He said, ‘F— OFF!!!!’ ”
“I said, ‘YOU GOT 10!!’ ”

“He said, ‘Thank you’ and he went up the hall, happy as a pig in sh–.”

THN.com Blog: The night Kerry Fraser gave enforcer Jim McKenzie a bonus - TheHockeyNews

Roughian Tyson Nash, who had not played more than 12 minutes in a game in months...got a career high 26 shifts in the final game of the 2002 season because Joel Quenneville figured out exactly how much ice time he needed to get to an ATOI of 10:00 to get a bonus.

St. Louis Blues at Detroit Red Wings Box Score — April 14, 2002 | Hockey-Reference.com

The combinations are endless back then...

 

[Canadiens1958]

There were also team bonuses. From Frank Selke Sr thru Serge Savard, Canadiens offered a team bonus to be divided by player vote for leading the NHL RS goals against.

 

[Sanf]

I remember reading about the signing bonuses the teams were obligated to pay the players even though lockout was on during 1994-1995. It varied lot between teams. For example Flames paid total of 620,000 signing bonuses to their players. Islanders only 400,000. When Kings paid to Marty McSorley 1,125,000!

Actually only few players got more than McSorley. Gretzky 4,334,000, Stevens 3,000,000, Forsberg 1,271,000 and Kariya 1,271,000. Only others who got 1,000,000 were Tverdovsky, Bure, Wesley and Pronger.

 

[alko]

This one about Pavol Demitra and Scott Young is also funny:

Because winger Scott Young was skating on his left, down the slot, with a $300,000 bonus of his own set to kick in if he could score one more goal. So Demitra put his bonus in Young’s hands in the hope that his teammate could cash in as well.
But with $800,000 on the line, Young fired a shot that Kings defenseman Jaroslav Modry went down to block, sending the puck to the corner as the final horn blew.
No goal. No bonus for Demitra or Young.
``That’s the most unselfish thing I’ve ever seen,″ Blues defenseman Jamie Rivers said of Demitra’s pass. ``That’s why he’s the ultimate team player.″
A Blues spokesman on Monday said he didn’t know if the team would consider awarding the bonuses, even though the players fell just short.
Young scored his 24th goal earlier in the game. Twenty-five would have triggered his bonus.
``I don’t know what kind of angle he had, but he gave it to me and if I put it in, we both hit,″ Young said.
Demitra said he had a good angle. His reasoning for the pass?
``He needed a goal,″ Demitra said.
Demitra appeared to have his bonus midway through the first period when he set up an apparent goal by Lubos Bartecko, but the goal was disallowed because the video replay showed Bartecko was in the crease.

 

[ShelbyZ]

Sergei Fedorov's big 6 year $38M offer sheet from the Canes in 1998 was mostly bonus money intended to be too rich for the Red Wings not to match:

-$12M - $2M a year salary
-$14M - Up front signing bonus
-$12M - Bonus structured to be paid out in installments over the first 4 years if his team does not reach the conference finals. If his team does reach the conference finals, the remaining unpaid balance of the bonus is immediately due to the player.

Contrary to popular belief, the Red Wings at that time were a bit budget conscious with player salary, so the bonuses were meant to force the Red Wings into declining to match. The conference finals one was the bigger potential blow as the Hurricanes were not expected to even make the playoffs, while the Red Wings were the defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Red Wings immediately matched, and Fedorov went on an absolute tear through the first 2 rounds of the playoffs with 8 goals and 7 assists in 12 games, giving him $28M in only 33 games and a little under 3 months. For the rest of the playoffs he had 2 goals and 3 assists in 10 games.

I don't know if it counts as a "bonus", but some players also had performance based additional/optional years that could be added to their contract. One such example went to Mike Vernon. He signed a contract with the Red Wings in 1995 that was guaranteed for 2 years, but had a "bonus" clause where a 3rd year would be added at the same salary if the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup and Vernon played in 3 of the 4 wins in the SCF.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I remember reading about the signing bonuses the teams were obligated to pay the players even though lockout was on during 1994-1995. It varied lot between teams. For example Flames paid total of 620,000 signing bonuses to their players. Islanders only 400,000. When Kings paid to Marty McSorley 1,125,000!

Actually only few players got more than McSorley. Gretzky 4,334,000, Stevens 3,000,000, Forsberg 1,271,000 and Kariya 1,271,000. Only others who got 1,000,000 were Tverdovsky, Bure, Wesley and Pronger.

iirc, vancouver at first refusing to pay, then eventually (years later?) agreeing to pay, bure's lockout year bonus was one of the major points of contention that eventually led to his trade request