Quote (dxlightning @ Jul 6 2013 11:11am)
Bonus counts against the cap. It's a 5.5m cap hit.
It is performance bonuses, not just a straight up bonus
it counts as 3.5 unless he reaches the incentives, in which case it is 5.5, however if that puts us over the cap there is a clause that allows us to defer up to 7.5% of the salary cap (roughly 5 million) to next year, and considering the incentives are only about 2 million we could defer it to next year if needed.
i found someone who explained it decently at the sb nation site
Quote
he’s eligible for performance bonuses. so in addition to the base salary, if he attains certain specified accomplishments—we don’t know right this second what they are—then he’ll receive additional compensation accordingly with whatever he accomplishes.
in terms of the cap, the base salary will count toward this season’s cap no matter what. however, if the Red Wings exceed the $64.3mil cap because Alfredsson achieves his bonuses, then the overage in cap money can be transferred to the following season. so, for simplicity’s sake, if the Red Wings spend to the cap and have a payroll of $64.3mil, and if Alfredsson gets all $2mil in bonus money, then the Red Wings payroll will be $66.3mil with Alfredsson’s bonus money. because Alfredsson’s $2mil was bonus money, the Red Wings are allowed to exceed the cap by the $2mil in bonus money, but the $2mil cap overage penalty will be transferred to the following season. so if the cap in the following season 2014-15 is $70mil, the Red Wings will only be allowed to have a $68mil payroll because of the $2mil cap penalty from Alfredsson’s bonus money.
of course, all this is moot under two circumstances: if the Red Wings DON’T exceed the $64.3mil cap, the $2mil bonuses will just be applied to this year’s cap; or if Alfredsson doesn’t achieve a single penny of his bonuses, then we have only the $3.5mil base salary to apply to the cap.