The Canucks' star rookie is going to start piling up bonuses, which will bring some cap issues with them

Quinn Hughes is piling up the points and is about to start piling up bonuses, a terrific thing for him and the Canucks’ offence — but, ironically, a problem for Vancouver’s salary cap.

The Canucks’ star rookie began Tuesday night’s game against the visiting Montreal Canadiens with two goals and 24 assists. One more assist and he’ll trigger the first of what’s likely to be a full slate of bonuses in his standard entry-level NHL contract.

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Hughes has posted points at every level he’s played, but rarely do the points keep coming in bunches for NHL rookies. Only special talents manage that production.

Canucks’ fans witnessed this with Elias Pettersson last year. And they’re seeing it with Hughes this season.

“That’s what I try to do — bring us offence, create chances,” Hughes said Tuesday morning before facing the Habs. “But obviously I can’t take it for granted. It’s a hard league and you have to drive real fast here.”

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There are fluctuations in his offensive output, but that never fazes him for long.

“When you’re not getting points, you kind of go back to the basics, see what you can do better. I’ve been there, I’ve gone like six, seven games without a point.

” … It’s a hard league, you’ve got to grow up. If you go a couple games without a point, it’s a business and you’ve got to grow up and can’t feel down on yourself.”

His teammates aren’t surprised he’s producing like he has, given his ability.

“When you can skate like that, you create space not just for yourself, but for other guys to get open,” forward Brock Boeser said.

“His edge work and then the way he protects the puck. Probably two, three times every game where I’m yelling from the bench to look out or heads up and then he somehow escapes out of it with speed and then he’s attacking offensively,” defenceman Troy Stecher added.

CANUCKS’ CAP CRUNCH

NHL salary cap: $81.5 million total spending

Canucks projected end-of-season cap space: $30,474

Possible bonuses for Pettersson/Hughes: $3.7 million-plus

Hughes’ high-octane production is great for the player. It’s great for the Canucks and fans craving excitement. But it’s also troublesome for the team’s cap dynamic.

Because of cap hurdles like Loui Eriksson’s contract being unmovable, a double-whammy since he couldn’t find a productive role on the team, Sven Baertschi’s deal being buried in the minors, the Ryan Spooner buyout and the Roberto Luongo cap-recapture penalty, the Canucks find themselves right up against the salary cap.

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And with numerous pending free agents this summer, including goaltender Jacob Markstrom, defencemen Chris Tanev and Stecher, and forwards Josh Leivo, Tim Schaller, Tyler Motte and Jake Virtanen, how Hughes does this season — and even more Pettersson — will have a huge impact on how much cap space the Canucks will have to work with next season with raises for the handful of players who will be expecting one.

Photo by Ezra Shaw / Getty Images

Because the Canucks are right up against the cap this season, most of the bonus money that Hughes and Pettersson could and will likely earn will be applied to next year’s salary cap. So, even though the salary cap is slated to increase next season, that may be a moot point, given the Hughes/Pettersson bonuses will eat up most, possibly all, of that boost.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and players’ association, players on entry-level contracts, like Hughes and Pettersson, can earn bonuses for achieving a standard in a number of categories — called schedule A bonuses — like more than 20 goals for forwards, or 10 goals for defencemen.

Players can also earn bonuses for minimum totals of assists, points, plus/minus, points-per-game, making the all-rookie team or being picked to the all-star game.

Each of these bonuses, categorized as “schedule A,” is worth $212,500; players can earn up to a maximum of $850,000 even if they qualify in more than four categories.

Last season, Pettersson earned $850,000 in those schedule A bonuses.

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After his impressive Swedish Hockey League season with Vaxjo before he signed his first NHL deal, Pettersson negotiated into his contract that if he achieves any one of the categories that are classed as schedule B in a season — top 10 in the league in goals, assists, points or points per game, finishes top five in voting for one of the league’s major awards or is named as a first- or second-team all-star at the end of the season — he’ll collect a further $2 million in bonuses from the Canucks.

The schedule B bonuses are also doled out by the league, at various rates, so both Pettersson and Hughes could rack those up on top of whatever other bonuses they’ve already earned; Hughes more likely than Pettersson. (And, yes, Pettersson would earn individual schedule B bonuses on top of the $2 million from the team.)

Hughes’ production and the rapid growth of his overall game are some of the best things to happen to the Canucks in a long time. But the price tag for this improvement is going to be something to watch.

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LISTEN: Ed Willes joins Paul Chapman for the final White Towel Podcast of 2019.

The Canucks’ current struggles are examined, and the pondering over the job security of general manager Jim Benning and coach Travis Green has begun. Who is in more peril? Ed also explains why he thinks the Canucks are stuck in the same spot they’ve been in the last three seasons after seemingly upgrading their defence, bringing in a true top 6 piece in J.T. Miller and having a full cadre of young stars. Lastly, they discuss the place in history Trevor Linden takes with the franchise. Ed talks about his recent interview with Linden that will be featured as one of the Top 50 Moments in Canucks history.

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