Signing bonuses will become a hot-button issue around which the NHL coalesces leading into the 2020-21 Owners’ Lockout IV, because some contracts — such as the ones Steven Stamkos signed to remain in Tampa Bay, Andrew Ladd accepted to move to Brooklyn/Long Island and, to a lesser degree, Kyle Okposo took to go to Buffalo — essentially are buyout proof and give an advantage to ownerships willing to embrace/exploit that opening in the CBA.

Stamkos’ eight year, $68 million deal includes $60M in bonus payments due each July 1. Ladd’s seven-year, $38.5M contract includes $31.5M in annual bonuses due July 1. Each will receive $1M per as base salary for every season of his own respective contract. Okposo’s seven-year, $42M deal isn’t structured quite so dramatically from beginning to end, but $20M of the $28M he is due the first four years are in the form of annual signing bonuses.

And signing bonuses are, if negotiated properly, protected against the two-thirds buyout. Signing bonuses are guaranteed at 100 percent. In other words, while NHL contracts are essentially guaranteed at 67 percent of their base value, Stamkos’ deal is guaranteed at 88 percent and Ladd’s at 82 percent.

If, or when, the league is shut down again, Stamkos and Ladd only would be in ’20-21 jeopardy for $1M apiece. That makes their contracts lockout-proof. The league doesn’t like lockout-proof agreements. Stamkos/Ladd should become the template for all players with negotiating leverage for the remainder of the CBA.

In that light, it is pretty interesting that Victor Hedman’s eight-year extension at $7.875M per that kicks in a year from now contains just $12M in signing bonus payments … but $3M in ’20-21 and $9M over the final three years of the deal. It is obviously a terrific contract for the 26-year-old Hedman, but an even better one for the Lightning, who won this week in a landslide.

And remember when one of the Board’s signal issues was the second contract? Well, Aaron Ekblad, the Panthers’ outstanding 20-year-old defenseman, who has been in the league for two years and has a year to go on his original entry level deal, just signed a second contract for eight years and $60M.

Two years in the league and Ekblad is in to earn $7.5M per beginning with Year 4. You know what Mike Trout earned in his fourth season with the Angels? One million dollars. You know what Bryce Harper was paid in his fourth year with the Nationals? Two point five million dollars.

Signing bonuses and second contracts … issues that will dominate the summer of ’20 lead-in to Owners’ Lockout IV.

The Lightning won the week by keeping Stamkos and extending Hedman a year before potential free agency, but general manager Steve Yzerman still faces a critical decision regarding his goaltending as the team that finished each of the past two seasons as the league’s second-best mounts up for another ride at the Stanley Cup.

It appears as if the Lightning may not have the cap space with which to keep important top-six winger Alex Killorn unless No. 1 goaltender Ben Bishop is dealt. Yes, there is the dreaded 2017 expansion draft protection issue with which to contend, and though young backup Andrei Vasilevskiy (extended for three years at $3.5M beginning next season), who started the final six games of the conference finals against Pittsburgh when the No. 1 was down with a leg injury is a good one, is this really the time to trade the worthy Vezina nominee Bishop?

Ray Shero’s Devils had an outstanding week, the one move to add Taylor Hall going a long way to easing — if not erasing — the considerable talent gap up front separating New Jersey from the East’s most formidable clubs ever since Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk escaped over the summers of 2012 and 2013.

Ben Lovejoy might not quite have Adam Larsson’s ability, but the veteran free agent signee is a stabilizer on the right side who won’t be expected to do too much playing for a GM in Shero and a coach in John Hynes who know him well.

Of course, seven years for Ladd is at least a couple of years too many, but that is the price of doing expensive business on the July 1 market. But the tipping point on the deal probably is four years down the road in a win-soon business that, in Brooklyn/Long Island, means win enough and come close enough over the next two seasons to entice John Tavares to stay.

Jason Chimera, a guy the Rangers most certainly could have used at two years, $2.25M per year, is a good signing for GM Garth Snow. The question for Jack Capuano is whether Chimera might slide in for the departed Matt Martin and join Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck on what presumably would become the team’s third line?

And the addition of back-to-the-future P.A. Parenteau for one year at $1.25M represents one of the most astute signings of the free-agent season. Parenteau might not be able to win a race, but he sure can score in a league where scoring — and goal-scorers — are at a premium.

So does the addition of Ladd, Chimera and Parenteau offset the defection of Okposo, Martin and Frans Nielsen? Maybe not entirely, but pretty darn close.

Five years at $6M per for 32-year-old David Backes is doomed to represent failure for the Bruins, even if the erstwhile St. Louis captain should slide into a third-line support role behind Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.

Backes is the kind of player on whom you take the bad back-end years with the good first couple of seasons if you’re a legitimate Cup contender, which the Bruins — out of the playoffs each of the past two years with a depreciating Zdeno Chara — are not.

Wait a second. You mean the Wild didn’t sign Eric Staal to be their third-line left wing?