Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyTitan
So with all the hub-bub around the big McDavid deal...safe to assume that the Oilers will at a MINIMUM be incurring a huge bonus from the last year of McLotto's final ELC year.
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Unfortunately, no. Given the cap space (16M+) they currently have and the only piece left to sign being Draisaitl, they probably aren't looking at much of a bonus overage cap hit unless they do sign a high priced UFA. However, there is another clause that could hurt the Oilers. The bonus cushion only allows for a team to exceed the cap by a max of 7.5% after totaling up all potential bonuses. Should McDavid, Puljujarvi, Nurse, Slepyshev, Caggiula and Benning all make the team, that's 7.5M in potential bonuses, exceeding the bonus cushion by nearly 2M that they must account for. It probably won't matter unless they get a high-priced UFA or have some major injury issues, but it does have the potential to limit potential rental targets at the deadline if they can't fit them into the cap thanks to that extra 2M "dead space."
EDIT: And with Pouliot on unconditional waivers for a buyout today, the Oilers will have close to 20M entering UFA. I think Pouliot's buyout is a good indication that they have reached a deal with a decently pricey UFA, which could have big bonus ramifications.