Folks, we’re probably not telling tales out of school when we say that the Calgary Flames are really happy with their 2024 NHL Draft class. They selected 10 players in Vegas back in June, and a lot of them are having great seasons.
Among their impressive youngsters is Brampton Steelheads forward Luke Misa. In addition to Misa’s superb performance on the ice, the Flames have an extra, big incentive to getting him locked into an entry-level contract before the end of the year.
As with several other recent prospect signings, the incentive the Flames face is found inside a part of the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement known as “the slide rule.” We dug into this earlier this season when it came to Sam Honzek (and later, Andrew Basha), so here’s what we wrote in the fall:
In a nutshell, here’s how the slide rule operates. If an 18 or 19-year-old player signs their entry-level deal but doesn’t play 10 NHL games in their first season, then their ELC gets extended by a year – functionally they receive their annual signing bonuses as originally scheduled, but their salary and performance bonuses slide back by a year. If they signed as an 18-year-old and their deal slid once, it can slide a second time if they don’t play 10 NHL games in their second season. Again, in this case, their salary and performance bonuses would slide back a year but their signing bonuses would remain as originally set.It’s important to note that Section 9.2, part of the CBA section that governs ELCs, defines age as how old a player is on Sept. 15 of the calendar year they sign their ELC, regardless of how old they actually were when they signed their ELC. The exception is players who sign in their 19-year-old year, but would turn 20 between Sept. 15 and Dec. 31 – they don’t get the slide.
Misa turned 19 in November, but because he was 18 on Sept. 15, if he signed this calendar year it would count as an 18-year-old signing and he would be eligible for two slide years – 2024-25 and 2025-26. In other words, he would be a double beneficiary of the slide rule because of his late birthday. Because he’s a 2005 birthday he’s eligible to play in the AHL next season (2025-26), so potentially he could get a free developmental year in the AHL if he plays there and doesn’t play 10 NHL games. In that case, the first year of his ELC wouldn’t start running until 2026-27 instead.
If you’re the Flames, the potential to have Misa in the AHL for a season without tolling his ELC is a huge incentive. The Flames have taken advantage of the double-slide several times in recent seasons: in addition to Sam Honzek’s deal potentially sliding this season unless he plays in 10 NHL games (he’s already played in five), we’ve also seen Connor Zary’s first season slide in the AHL.
But in negotiations, there’s a give and take. Typically, there’s a general pattern that emerges when it comes to NHL draftees and the structure of their ELCs. First-round picks get rookie max salaries, and depending on where they fall in the draft order they often get performance bonuses built into their deals, too. As the draft goes along, typically salaries or bonuses shrink – often both. As a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, Misa wouldn’t typically be expected to get a big contract relative to other ELCs – the most recent Flames fifth-rounder to sign, 2022 pick Parker Bell, got a pretty basic deal with no performance bonuses at all.
But if the Flames could benefit from Misa signing before the end of December, they may look to share the wealth by offering him more potential performance bonuses than his draft slotting would typically merit. We’ll see what unfolds over the next few weeks.
The 150th overall pick in last June’s draft, Misa has had a really strong offensive season after a bit of a slow start. Through 28 games, he has 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points – currently tied for 12th in scoring in the entire Ontario Hockey League.
