I'm fine with players making whatever amounts of money. However, these kooky contracts need to come with an "if you start sucking, we can fire your butt" clause. IMO, each team should be allowed to dump two contracts a year without any penalty or compensation to the player who clearly isn't earning his pay. The player can then become a free agent and join the Maple Leafs.
I agree... no way a player should be making the 7.5 mill per year that Gomez was bringing in, being a minus in the +/- bracket and scoring only 2 goals. That mean he's neither productive on the scoresheet or playing strong defensively, and it's clear he's not a physical force... and what physical only players make that kind of coin? You need to be able to say, sorry bud, you haven't performed according to the dollar value. Your services have been terminated.
That's why, and this would never work for the players, but everyone should be signed to a base salary of 1,000,000 and make the extras in bonuses. If you reach 20 goals, 2 million. 30 goals. 3 million. 500 grand for every 10 assists reached. A plus-season could be a 500,000 bonus. Depending on how high it is, even more. Of course there are stipulations, like injuries and how strong of a season that player had compared to the guy who played in all 82 games.
This guy ---> 58-39-45-84, +41 should make more than this guy ---> 82-44-47-91, +26 Then again, maybe not. Got to look at each player's minutes played, who they lined up with, and a guy who plays 82 games for you is a guy who you can count on to be in the line up, game in and game out. So what does that mean for the Crosbys of the NHL? It's not as easy as initially thought out, but it's something that could be worked on. I just like the idea that it gets players hustle and perform at their best each game to gain those incentives, then the guys who get the big fat contracts and sit back and enjoy the riches coming in like your Yashins did, and much like your Heatleys of today are doing now.
For the third and fourth line pluggers who don't get the allotted playing time to reach said lofty goals, you can have hits, blocked shots, and other aspects be looked at. Performance rating bonuses? Of course that is subjective.