Bridge contracts

[Lance-Pittsburgh]

With my organization having a lot of RFAs this off-season, I want to be sure I understand the bridge contract as best I can but I still have a few questions. I understand the general thought process behind who should be bridged and who should not; my questions are more about the financial aspects of the contract.

Managers offering contracts to players who are coming off their two-year bridge contract can realize a 10% discount on their asking price/highest bid during the RFA phase.  However, I am confused about term.  The rulebook states that players coming off a bridge deal can be signed for a minimum of one year and up to four years.  But does the length of the deal affect the discount realized?  I remember reading a post -- though I can't find it now -- where greater savings were recognized for a longer deal.  But I also feel like I remember reading a post -- again, I can no longer find it -- that states there are minimum salary requirements for term.

In brief:

1. Does the length of the post-bridge contract have an effect on realized savings?
   
2. Are there minimum salary requirements for contract lengths for RFAs coming off a bridge deal like there are for UFAs? If so, where can I find that information (if different than UFAs).

[Glenn-Philadelphia]

Jul 17, 2023 13:19:57 GMT -5 Lance-Pittsburgh said:

With my organization having a lot of RFAs this off-season, I want to be sure I understand the bridge contract as best I can but I still have a few questions. I understand the general thought process behind who should be bridged and who should not; my questions are more about the financial aspects of the contract.

Managers offering contracts to players who are coming off their two-year bridge contract can realize a 10% discount on their asking price/highest bid during the RFA phase.  However, I am confused about term.  The rulebook states that players coming off a bridge deal can be signed for a minimum of one year and up to four years.  But does the length of the deal affect the discount realized?  I remember reading a post -- though I can't find it now -- where greater savings were recognized for a longer deal.  But I also feel like I remember reading a post -- again, I can no longer find it -- that states there are minimum salary requirements for term.

In brief:

1. Does the length of the post-bridge contract have an effect on realized savings?
   
2. Are there minimum salary requirements for contract lengths for RFAs coming off a bridge deal like there are for UFAs? If so, where can I find that information (if different than UFAs).

If a player is not going to be bridged (usually this is for a guy a GM is sure about and is a bona-fide NHLer) you get a 25% savings off his asking price. Then this price can be further reduced by term, 4 years would yield an additional 7.5% savings. You can sign him up to 6 years as well. If his is asking under 6M, it will be raised to 6M before the 12.5% savings (6 year savings percentage) are applied.

Bridged players are bridged for 2 years and only get a %10 discount. So for the first half of his bridge he will only get a 2.5% additional savings (2 years). Going into his 2nd contract he gets the same %10 discount and can realize an additional 7.5% if signed for the last 4 years of his contract.

2 things to remember, bridged players allow GMs 2 chances to poach one of your players via RFA. Also, If a player is asking under what the minimum is for the years you ant to sign him for, his salary will be raised to meet minimum before discounts are applied.

[Lance-Pittsburgh]

A quick follow-up:

I understand that players can be signed for anywhere between one and four years coming off their bridge contract. In the Rule Book I found the contract length thresholds below. Are they (minus years five and six) accurate for players coming off their bridge contract, too?

$6M and over - 6 years maximum
$4M - $5.95M - 5 years maximum
$1.8M - $3.95M - 4 years maximum
$900K - $1.75M - 3 years maximum
$500k - $895K - 2 years maximum

[Glenn-Philadelphia]

Yes, I believe that there is only the 1 chart we use for minimum salary based on years you are signing a player for. The bridge effectively allows for 2 RFA signings of a player. One for 2 years and another for 1 to 4 additional years.

[Lance-Pittsburgh]

I follow. I’m just particularly *ahem* detailed in my long-term planning and want to make sure that my organization’s spreadsheet has accurate information.

(My wife would likely use another choice word or two to describe that aspect of my personality.)

[Scott-New York]

Jul 19, 2023 7:55:22 GMT -5 Lance-Pittsburgh said:

I follow. I’m just particularly *ahem* detailed in my long-term planning and want to make sure that my organization’s spreadsheet has accurate information.

(My wife would likely use another choice word or two to describe that aspect of my personality.)

Mine too, bud, mine too

[Dane-Hamilton]

From what I remember it still uses max contact right?

Ie. Bridged player for 2 years if they wanted to sign them additional 4 years minimum salary on additional would be 6 million. If wanted to sign additional 3 years minimum on that would be 4 million (in line with our 5 year contracts)

That brings it in line with non bridged 6 years @ 6 million.

If that isn't the rule you can keep bridged players 6 years much cheaper than non bridged players. 2 years bridged + 4 years @ 1.8 million (min) vs 6 years @ 6 million.

I could have misunderstood when rule came out though, but if that's the case I have underutilized bridging ability.

[Scott-New York]

That was the rule as intended, yes, but in past practice, it has not been done that way, so I'm assuming that is not the case. In fact, at this point, since it has not been followed, I'm not sure how we could enforce this. But this is a damn good question

[Scott-New York]

Also, keep in mind, we can only bridge drafted players

[Phil-Cornwall]

break out the NHL (actual) rulebook.

Apply rule from there.

[Glenn-Philadelphia]

I believe this is discussed on a yearly basis. After posting this I will try to remember to check the current state of the rules to see if parts of that original process are still out there.

Because there was no blue print to follow whenever the league was formed (most impacting processes) there were certain assumptions made as to how players coming off bridge contracts would be handled. When players started rolling off their bridges 2 years later the math just didn't work for the majority of the players. Meaning, it didn't make sense for any good players and below. It worked for the very good players (which are trhe ones that come to mind whenever I/we were thinking about how bridged players should be handled) but it was so out of whack as to really diminish the value of draft picks and make most draft picks viable for 1-4 years only. Since it didn't make sense it was rectified and the new and improved (meaning the numbers were much more in line with reality) process has been followed for probable 5 or 6 years now.

I am unsure of all of the changes from originally designed to where we are now but it has been the same for that same amount of time. I don't think Looking at original bridge concept (the 2 years + second half of the bridge contract (1 to 4 years) to determine term and therefore minimum yearly contract amount) in a vacuum without considering the other changes from 6 years ago to now (asking prices, Methods for the additional of retainment of UFAs, etc) can be done.