I think they match. If Montreal had upped the compensation one peg and still went max bonuses , I think they get him

Ya I would agree to that possibly the same amount under the next threshold like 10.5 ish, my question would be if this is going to lead to some salary dumps in Carolina to make it all work on a budget with all the up front bonuses

If Carolina is dumping Oilers will take Haula for a pick

I could see Carolina having a bit of a blockbuster or a fire sale, to stay in budget, I’m only guessing there a budget team and the upfront bonuses are going to mess with that, but in saying that they did take marleau just to buy him out for a first, so maybe the budget is larger than I assume

That barely cost them anything other than cap space that they were not going to use anyway.

It may eat what they had budgeted for this year in salary’s, put them over internal budget, nothing to do with salary cap or anything, just a thought give them a little extra incentive to move out Faulk and or Hamilton a little faster and replace them internally, to get them through this years possible cash crunch. I may just be over thinking it, but I would think that would be better strategy than not matching