The fascinating bonus structure of the Jonathan Toews Jets contract

Last Friday the Winnipeg Jets let the cat out of the bag with the highly anticipated confirmation of Jonathan Toews' return to the NHL, announcing they had signed him to a 1 year $2 million contract. 

However, there is much more to that contract than meets the eye. In addition to the base $2 million dollar salary, Toews will have one of the more fascinating bonus structure's in recent memory. 

Here is the breakdown: After playing 20 regular season games, Toews will make an additional $550,000. Jonathan will make another four batches of $550,000 for passing 30, 40, 50 and 60 games respectively. 

But wait, there's more. There are playoff implications here too. If the Jets make the playoffs and Toews plays 50 games, he will earn another $500,000. If the Jets win in the 1st round and Toews plays at least %50 of the games, he will accrue $250,000. This same $250,000 dollar payout applies if the Jets win in the 2nd and 3rd rounds with Toews playing half the games. 

Now, here is the banker: Jonathan Toews will make $1 million dollars if the Winnipeg Jets take home Lord Stanley's Cup in the 25-26 season. All told if Toews checks all these boxes he can make an extra $5 million next year. Add that bonus up to his original contract and that is a $7 million dollar man. 

To be fair, there are question marks with this Toews return. He has been away from the game for 2 whole seasons and has just recently recovered from long covid health issues after going on a 5 week healing journey in India. These bonuses are clearly there to incentivize Jonathan to play as much as he can. It will be a fun storyline to track Toews' progression with hitting these bonuses throughout the season.