Johnson contract/schedule

There was a question about Jack Johnson's contract. Because of the way rookie contracts are done under the new CBA, rookies can make a max of $984,200 when it comes to base salary. The bulk of their money comes from bonuses, so it's hard to determine, right away, how much Johnson will make. I could estimate, or give a ballpark figure, but it wouldn't be totally accurate. I do know that his contract package, including bonuses, is the fourth-largest package since the new CBA was signed in 2005. Johnson's deal is behind those of only Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin. For some comparison, Malkin's deal included bonuses that could have netted him almost $3 million extra per season. So, Johnson fits in somewhere below that.

I was talking to Dean Lombardi, not too long ago, about this subject, and it's frustrating for teams because the entire bonus gets counted against the cap at the beginning of the season, whether or not the player achieves the entire bonus. If the player doesn't achieve all of the bonuses, it's obviously not counted on the final cap total, but by the end of the season, what difference does that make? I hope I explained that properly.

It's interesting to note that Johnson's third game will be at Vancouver. Johnson has a bit of history with hockey fans in Canada that dates to the 2006 World Juniors. Johnson became a public enemy for a brutal hit on Team Canada's Steve Downie, a hit that many fans in Canada believed to be dirty. It would be a surprise if Johnson got booed fairly viciously in Vancouver.