Quote:
Originally Posted by Gumby
Can someone explain what the point of splitting his paycheck into salary & signing bonus is?
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During the last CBA, players had to take a 25% salary pay cut. Bonuses were not affected, I think. With the current CBA expiring at the end of next season, having a low salary and high signing bonus for the 2012-13 season allows players to collect their $$ even if salaries are rolled back again. Having the signing bonus for this upcoming season just makes it slightly less blatantly obvious that this is what they are trying to do ($8M signing bonus followed by $5M signing bonus the year after?? wtf... Bettman's gota be fuming right now). Bieksa's signing bonuses are spread out over the entire term of the contract to make it seem less obvious, but still that's the intent.
Luongo's contract is slightly different as I recall, with his salary shooting up something considerably for the 2012-13 season anticipating a possibly salary roll back
It's odd that they left this signing bonus loophole open, as cap hit is based on bonuses+salary so obviously PA and NHL are both aware of what could have happened. But then again they left heavy heavy front loaded contracts open as well until Bettman decided it was a crock.