HF2002 said:
I skimmed through this thread but didn't see the answer.
Do player bonuses (ie $1 million for getting 50 goals) count towards the team's cap in the current season or the following season?
My initial thinking is that they count towards the following season, but I can also think of reasons why a potential bonus counts toward the current season whether it's achieved or not.
Player bonuses are limited to (A) entry-level players and referred to as Exhibit 5 bonuses and specified accordingly, (B) players 35 or older on 1-year contracts, or (C) players who missed a specified number of games the previous year and again, have a 1-year contract.
That said, let's assume John Doe has a contract that has a base salary of $750,000 and allows him to earn up to $750,000 in bonuses. The entire $1.5 million counts against the team's salary cap for the contract year that he signs for (e.g. the current year), and stays in effect until such time as he cannot earn any part of the bonus money. At that point, the amount he cannot earn is released and becomes available.
Then there's a clause that covers exceeding the upper limit due to bonuses; a team can exceed the upper limit by up to 7.5% with the provision that should the team actually end up exceeding the upper limit because of bonuses paid, the team's upper limit for the following season is reduced by the amount of the overage. (Atlanta apparently has this due to bonuses paid to Peter Bondra in '05-06.)
Bottom line: the bonus counts against in the current season; if it ends up causing the team to be over the upper limit at the end of the season, the amount by which the team goes over counts against in the following season.