NHL Entry Level Slide Tracker

What Is An Entry Level Slide?

When a player on an entry-level contract is 18 or 19 (as of Sept 15) their entry level contract is slide eligible. This means their team may choose to return them to junior and avoid using a year of their contract. In this case the contract slides. The net effect is that the term length of their contract doesn't start. There are still cap implications for each impacted year.

Exception : A player who signs an entry-level contract at age 19, and then turns 20 before Dec 31 of that year is not slide eligible

Entry Level Slide Rules

Slide Trigger
Players may play up to 10 NHL games in a season (including playoffs) and be still be eligible to slide. As soon as they play 10 games, their contract starts and can no longer slide.
Cap Implications
Signing bonuses are paid each year even if the contract slides. As contracts slide the annual cap hit is calculated as an average of remaining salary due over the actual contract length.
Yearly Cap Hit = (Contract Value - Signing Bonuses Paid) / Original Contract Length
Term Length
As the contract slides, the actual length of the contract remains the same as the original contract. The start/end date is just being pushed out, and the cap reduced by the signing bonuses that are paid each year regardless.

2023-2024 Entry Level Slide Tracker

Team Player Games
Played
Games
Left
Position Age
on Sept 15
Geekie, Conor
0
10
Center
19
If Conor Geekie plays 10+ games in NHL this year
2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 2025-2026
Cap Hit $950K $918K $918K $918K
AAV $1.7M $1.7M $1.7M $1.7M
Performance Bonuses - $525K $775K $1.0M
Base Salary ENTRY-LEVEL SLIDE $855K $855K $855K
Signing Bonuses $95K $95K $95K -
Total Salary $95K $950K $950K $855K
Minors Salary - $83K $83K $83K
If Conor Geekie plays <10 games in NHL this year
2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 2025-2026 2026-2027
Cap Hit $950K $918K $887K $887K $887K
AAV $1.7M $1.7M $1.7M $1.7M $1.7M
Performance Bonuses - - $525K $775K $1.0M
Base Salary SLIDE SLIDE $855K $855K $855K
Signing Bonuses $95K $95K $95K - -
Total Salary $95K - $950K $855K $855K
Minors Salary - - $83K $83K $83K
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