Interesting details regarding Matthew Tkachuk's new contract structure

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Ryan
July 24, 2022 (8:08 PM)

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Incase you missed it, on Friday night one of the biggest trades in recent NHL memory took place. Matthew Tkachuk was traded because after he refused to sign a contract extension and was subsequently shipped to Florida. After immediately signing a contract, the structure of his new contract will secure more money for Tkachuk immediately.

According to Sportnet's Elliotte Friedman, Matthew Tkachuk's new contract contains only $1 million per year in salary and the rest would be paid in bonuses.

Tkachuk signed an 8-year $76 million contract with the Panthers and his annual cap hit is $9.5 million as bonuses don't affect the players AAV. But this essentially makes Matthew Tkachuk buyout proof.

Incase you were wondering, below are the rules on how the buyouts of contracts are calculated when there are bonuses involved.

Signing bonuses are paid to the player regardless of a buyout. Therefore, as explained in the buyout caphit formula above, signing bonuses are excluded in the equation when determining the total buyout cost, and are included in the AAV value when determining the remaining caphit.

Signing bonuses therefore decrease the buyout caphit savings.

While this is a long contract and a lot of money, Tkachuk is still very young and this contract only brings him to the age of 32. So for those thinking this will be a poor deal in the final years, it's very unlikely a player of his skill level will not be still producing at a decent pace at the young age of 32.