Pals, we recently delved into the potential financial impacts of a Zayne Parekh breakout in the 2026-27 season. Suffice it to say: if he earns all of his potential performance bonuses, the Calgary Flames would be happy to pay them.

But we were curious: how many other Flames youngsters have performance bonuses in their deals for next season?

For players on entry-level deals – and a very specific sub-set of veterans on short-term deals that we don’t need to get into here – performance bonuses are a way to earn a bit of extra dough during what are the only cost-controlled years of a player’s career. Entry-level deals are explicitly capped within the collective bargaining agreement, so bonuses give high-performing players a bit of extra incentive to be great right away. They only count against the cap if a player hits them, so they’re a way for teams to sweeten the pot to get a player to sign.

Generally-speaking, ELC bonuses tend to be proportionate to a player’s draft standing. First overall picks get maximum bonuses – 2025 top pick Matthew Schaefer got $3.5 million in potential bonuses – and it goes down from there. Typically players later in the first round don’t get much in the way of bonuses; Matvei Gridin, taken 28th in 2024, doesn’t have any bonuses in his deal. There are exceptions, though, most often college players who are high performers – Johnny Gaudreau got a bunch of potential bonuses included in his ELC, for example.

There are three general categories of common entry-level bonuses:

Per our pals at PuckPedia, six Flames youngsters have deals that include potential bonuses for 2026-27. We don’t have their contracts in front of us, so we’re making educated guesses based on how things tend to work.

We’ve already discussed Parekh elsewhere. He has $1 million in potential bonuses, which likely correspond to “A bonuses” and capping out at four categories of bonuses. He was selected in the top 10, so it’s not out of the ordinary.

A mid-round first-rounder, Honzek has $500,000 in bonuses included. We’re thinking they’re “A bonuses,” which cap out at two categories.

Castagna was not a high draft pick, nor was he a highly-touted college free agent. But coming off a strong season where he was his conference’s top defensive forward, his agent managed to negotiate $500,000 of bonuses, likely “A bonuses,” into his deal. Nicely done.

Three other players have bonuses in their deals for lower amounts: Andrew Basha ($102,500), Arsenii Sergeev ($57,500) and Etienne Morin ($55,000). Based on the smaller amounts, they could be “A bonuses” for smaller amounts that cap out if they hit one bonus category, or they could be games-played bonuses. Either way, they’re not bonuses that would have massive cap impacts for the Flames.

Players on ELCs in 2026-27 that don’t include any performance bonuses include Tyson Gross, Aydar Suniev, Matvei Gridin, Abram Wiebe and Hunter Brzustewicz.

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