[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by getbak

All bonuses count against the cap, but the CBA allows for a "bonus cushion" where teams can exceed the cap by up to 7.5% to cover any unpaid bonuses that players are still eligible to receive.

Because of that, the various sites that track the team payrolls tend to just ignore the potential bonuses on players' contracts.


That can be problematic though, because some teams have so many entry-level players that their total potential bonus amount exceeds the 7.5% cushion.

For next season, the cap is $73 million. This means the bonus cushion is $5.475 million. With Draisaitl ($2.475M), McDavid ($2.85M), and Nurse ($850,000), the Oilers already exceed the bonus cushion by $700,000 ($6.175M total in bonuses between those three). If Puljujarvi or Reinhart (who has $2.35M in bonuses on his contract) make the Oilers this fall, their full contract values with bonuses will count against the Oilers' cap.

It's unknown whether the bonuses are earned or not until the conclusion of the regular season though, right?