Macklin Celebrini’s new contract with the San Jose Sharks looks strange at first glance.
Celebrini signed a five-year, $94 million extension carrying an average annual value of $18.8 million. Yet his listed base salary never rises above $1 million in any season.
That does not mean Celebrini is making only $950,000.
In the first year of the contract, he will receive a $950,000 base salary and a $19.85 million signing bonus. His total compensation for that season will be $20.8 million.
Across the entire contract, Celebrini will collect only $4.9 million in base salary. The remaining $89.1 million—approximately 94.8% of the deal—will be paid through signing bonuses.
It is one of the most extreme bonus-heavy contracts the NHL has seen. It may also be one of the last.
A “signing bonus” is not a performance reward
The terminology can be confusing.
An NHL signing bonus is not an extra reward for scoring 50 goals, winning the Hart Trophy or reaching the playoffs. It is guaranteed compensation written directly into the player’s contract.
A player can receive another signing bonus in every season of a long-term deal. Those payments are commonly scheduled for the summer, while the smaller base salary is paid throughout the regular season.
The salary cap does not care how the money is divided.
Celebrini’s cap hit remains $18.8 million every year because the NHL calculates the cap charge from the total guaranteed value of the contract divided by its five-year term. Moving money from base salary into bonuses does not reduce the cap hit.
So why bother structuring it this way?
Because signing bonuses give players several major protections that ordinary salary does not provide.
The contract becomes almost impossible to buy out
This is arguably the biggest reason.
When an NHL team buys out a player, the buyout calculation is generally based on the remaining base salary. Depending on the player’s age, the team usually pays either one-third or two-thirds of that amount over twice the number of years remaining on the contract.
Signing bonuses are different. Outstanding bonuses must still be paid in full and continue to count against the salary cap.
That means a contract containing a tiny base salary and enormous annual bonuses offers very little buyout relief. The team can technically buy out the player, but it cannot escape most of the money or cap consequences.
Consider Celebrini’s deal. Even if his performance somehow collapsed, San Jose would still be responsible for the scheduled signing bonuses. With nearly 95% of the contract protected that way, a conventional buyout would accomplish very little.
For the player, that is powerful security.
For the team, it is a major long-term commitment.
Players receive most of their money earlier
Base salary is generally distributed during the season. Signing bonuses are paid on scheduled dates, often before the season begins.
Receiving $19 million or $20 million in the summer is considerably more valuable than receiving the same amount gradually over several months. The player has earlier access to the money and can invest it sooner.
There is also less uncertainty. Injuries, trades and poor performance do not eliminate an already guaranteed signing-bonus obligation.
This is why star players and their agents negotiate not only the contract’s total value, but also exactly how and when that money will be delivered.
Protection against a future lockout
Bonus-heavy contracts have also traditionally offered players protection against work stoppages.
Base salary is connected to the playing season. If games are cancelled during a lockout, players do not receive their normal game-related salary.
A signing bonus due on a predetermined date has historically remained payable even when games are not being played. That made bonus-heavy contracts especially valuable when a deal extended beyond the expiration date of a collective bargaining agreement.
The NHL and NHLPA now have labour peace through September 15, 2030, but contracts such as Celebrini’s extend beyond that date.
Bonuses can change a contract’s trade value
Signing bonuses do not lower the cap hit after a trade, but they can dramatically lower the actual cash owed by the acquiring team.
Imagine that a player carries a $10 million cap hit, but his original team has already paid a $9 million summer signing bonus. The acquiring club may be responsible for only $1 million in remaining salary while still receiving the player and his full $10 million cap charge.
That can make a contract more attractive to a team trying to reach the salary-cap floor without spending the full cap amount in real cash.
The reverse is also true. A contract can be more difficult to move before a massive bonus payment is due because the acquiring owner would immediately inherit that obligation.
There may be tax-planning opportunities—but bonuses are not tax-free
Signing bonuses are still taxable income.
However, the tax treatment of a bonus can differ from ordinary salary depending on the player’s residence, the location of the team, the wording of the contract and applicable tax treaties.
For example, the Canada-U.S. tax treaty contains specific provisions dealing with certain bonuses paid to athletes who live in one country and sign with an employer in the other. That can create planning opportunities in qualifying situations, but it is not a universal tax loophole and does not make the money tax-free.
Signing bonuses also do not vanish from the NHL’s financial system. They remain part of the contract’s cap calculation and player-compensation accounting. Calling $19.85 million a bonus instead of salary does not allow a player or team to avoid the salary cap or the league’s revenue-sharing and escrow calculations.
Celebrini is far from the first bonus-heavy superstar
Celebrini’s contract is extreme, but NHL stars have been using this structure for years.
Leo Carlsson: His five-year, $90 million contract contains $85.3 million in signing bonuses—also approximately 94.8% of the total value. His base salary ranges from $850,000 to $1 million.
Auston Matthews: Nearly $49.65 million of Matthews’ four-year, $53 million Maple Leafs extension is paid through signing bonuses. That is roughly 93.7% of the contract.
Leon Draisaitl: Draisaitl’s eight-year, $112 million Oilers extension includes $104 million in signing bonuses—approximately 92.9% of the deal.
John Tavares: Tavares’ original seven-year, $77 million contract with Toronto included $70.89 million in signing bonuses, accounting for roughly 92.1% of its value.
Artemi Panarin: Panarin’s seven-year, $81.5 million Rangers contract contained $74.5 million in signing bonuses, or approximately 91.4%. His base salary was only $1 million in each season.
Matthew Tkachuk: Tkachuk’s eight-year, $76 million Panthers contract pays him $68 million in bonuses. His base salary is exactly $1 million in every season.
Nathan MacKinnon: MacKinnon’s $100.82 million Colorado contract contains $85.34 million in signing bonuses.
William Nylander: Nylander’s eight-year, $92 million extension includes $69 million in bonuses, representing 75% of the contract.
Carey Price’s final Montreal contract also included $70 million in signing bonuses on an $84 million deal. By the final season, Price carried a $10.5 million cap hit even though only $2 million remained in base salary after his annual bonus had been paid.
These were not accounting accidents. They were carefully negotiated structures designed to give elite players greater certainty and protection.
Why teams agree to these contracts
Teams accept bonus-heavy structures because they are often the price of signing or retaining a superstar.
The player may agree to a lower total value, shorter term or more favourable cap hit in exchange for receiving the money earlier and with stronger guarantees.
Wealthier organizations can also use their ability to make huge summer payments as a recruiting advantage. Not every ownership group is equally comfortable writing a $15 million or $20 million cheque months before ticket and game-day revenue begins arriving.
Bonus payments can eventually make a contract easier to trade after the original team has paid most of the real money. But that advantage comes with a serious drawback: the contract is far more difficult to buy out if the player declines.
Teams are essentially exchanging future flexibility for a better chance of securing the player today.
The NHL is closing the door on extreme bonus structures
The new NHL-NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement takes full effect on September 16, 2026.
Under the new rules, aggregate signing, roster and reporting bonuses will be limited to 60% of a contract’s total compensation. A contract can still be bonus-heavy, but deals placing 90% to 95% of the money into bonuses will no longer be permitted.
The CBA will also restrict front-loading. The difference between adjacent contract years generally cannot exceed 20% of the first year’s compensation, and the lowest-paid year cannot fall below 71% of the highest-paid year.
Celebrini signed before the September 16 deadline, so his contract is permitted even though it does not begin until the 2027-28 season.
The practical effect of the new rules is clear. Teams will regain some buyout flexibility, compensation will be distributed more evenly, and cash-rich ownership groups will have less ability to separate themselves by offering nearly an entire contract through massive guaranteed bonus payments.
It also makes contracts look more like what fans expect. A player earning $18 million per season will once again have a base salary that represents a meaningful portion of that total—not $950,000 attached to a bonus nearly 20 times larger.
Bonus-heavy contracts are not disappearing completely
The strategy is being limited, not eliminated.
Players will still be able to negotiate up to 60% of their total compensation through bonuses. That remains enough to provide early payments, some buyout protection and greater financial certainty.
But the days of Matthews, Draisaitl, Carlsson and Celebrini receiving more than 90% of enormous contracts in signing bonuses are almost over.
Celebrini’s $94 million extension is therefore more than a record-setting contract.
It is one of the final products of an NHL contract system that allowed its biggest stars to be paid almost entirely through guaranteed summer cheques—and left their teams with virtually no way out.
