When the Oilers made Corey Perry’s signing official earlier Monday, they disclosed his $775K cap hit deal included an unspecified amount of performance bonuses. CapFriendly later reported the specifics – a $225K bonus if he hits 10 games played, a $50K bonus if the Oilers advance to the Western Conference Final and Perry plays in at least half of the games in Round 2 or Rounds 1 and 2, and a $50K bonus if the Oilers advance to the Stanley Cup Final if Perry plays in at least half of the Conference Final series or half of Rounds 1 through 3 overall.
That’s a total of $325K in potential bonuses, which will add to an already hefty cap overage expected from Connor Brown’s similarly structured contract this season. Brown signed a one-year, $775K deal to join Edmonton last summer after playing four games last season in Washington due to an ACL injury, which included a $3.225MM bonus if he hit 10 games played on the season. After a poor start through nine games, many called on the Oilers to waive Brown to avoid his unaffordable bonus kicking in. They opted not to, which now looks like an extremely poor decision in hindsight. Brown is yet to score a goal in 35 games this season and has only three assists. Whatever amount of Brown’s $3.225MM bonus that they can’t fit under the salary cap at the end of the season will carry over as a penalty in their 2024-25 cap, which will increase with whatever bonuses Perry garners.
More from the Pacific Division:
- An unfortunate season for Canucks blue-liner Carson Soucy continues. He’s likely out of the lineup for three to four weeks with a “possible” hand injury, CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reports. The 29-year-old skated 13:40 in last weekend’s win over the Maple Leafs but did not play in the third period. He was on the ice for all three Toronto goals against in the second period. After signing a three-year, $9.75MM deal with Vancouver last summer, he’s missed 25 of Vancouver’s 46 games with lower-body injuries. He’s been decent when in the lineup, contributing two goals and six points with a +6 rating in 21 contests, averaging 17:24 per game.
- Flames defenseman Oliver Kylington is inching his way back toward playing in his first NHL game since April 2022. He practiced with the Flames today for the first time since being recalled from his AHL conditioning stint over the weekend, clearing a path for him to return just before the All-Star break or soon after. The 26-year-old took a leave of absence for mental health reasons that lasted the entire 2022-23 campaign before landing on LTIR to begin 2023-24.
- Also nearing a return for Calgary is starting netminder Jacob Markström, who was a full participant in practice today for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury last week, per Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg. He’s missed three games but will return to at least back up Daniel Vladař against the Blues tomorrow, if not start. The 33-year-old is having a solid bounce-back season, posting a .912 SV% and stopping 6.7 goals above average in 26 appearances. The Flames went 1-2-0 in Markström’s absence and sit four points back of the Predators for the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
Nobody should be surprised by the way Ken Holland handled the Connor Brown contract, Holland is the Oilers biggest problem and has been since day one!
And noone should be surprised that Soucy was on the ice for 3 goals.
Great to see that Kylington is doing better. Mental health is no joke, and it’s a shame that his struggles have kept him away from the game for so long.
Kylington had his best year just before his absence, Hope he can get back to that level of play soon.