One of the biggest benefits of the lockout is the very cap-friendly rookie maximum - at least for teams. It’s obviously not that great for high-end draft picks, though.* Tyler Seguin will start to cost the Boston Bruins a lot more starting in 2013-14, yet he still has some incentives to shoot for in his current deal. The Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa reports that Seguin made himself a lot of extra money thanks to his breakout sophomore season.
Seguin will carry at least a $1.75 million cap hit this year because of his sparkling sophomore season. Seguin hit six of his attainable Individual A bonuses, which are each worth $212,500. Individual A bonuses are capped at $850,000 total. Seguin has a $900,000 base salary.
Seguin earned his bonuses because he netted 20 or more goals, had 35 or more assists, and recorded 60-plus points. Seguin also reached three other thresholds by averaging 0.73 points or more per game (0.83), being among the top three team forwards in plus/minus rating (plus-34), and being named to the All-Star game.
Shinzawa points out that Seguin could score a few more bonuses this summer, too. He has playoff-related benchmarks in his contract that could earn him as much as $1.8 million in extra cash, with a Conn Smythe being the biggest bullet point.
So let me ask: does Seguin have one more lucrative run in him this season?
* - The Chicago Blackhawks’ curse-killing 2010 Stanley Cup came in the final entry-level seasons for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, for instance.