How does Halak’s relief appearance affect his performance bonus?

The Vancouver Canucks had a goaltending mess on Saturday night.

For the second time this month, the team surrendered five straight goals before registering one of their own, a true testament to how poorly the players performed in front of their netminders on both outings.

As expected, Thatcher Demko was given the nod between the pipes on Saturday night, looking to secure his third consecutive victory.

Unfortunately, that hope fell apart rather quickly.

The 26-year-old was eventually pulled after just 25 minutes of action (to no fault of his own, might we add), making way for Jaroslav Halak to hold down the crumbling fort.

At the time of the goalie swap, most fans were still gawking at the scoreboard, essentially trying to figure out if they should make an early exit for the Skytrain or if they should numbingly endure 35 minutes of meaningless hockey.

However, as the game continued on, some fans started to put two and two together in regards to Halak.

More specifically, how his relief appearance might impact his looming bonus.

The salary cap conversation around Halak first took place near the beginning of February. The Canucks had just returned home from a four-game road trip and were gearing up to play back-to-back home games against Arizona and New York.

Given Vancouver’s tough and compact schedule down the stretch, most people figured that Demko and Halak were going to split the starts.

As expected, Halak ended up getting the nod on the second leg on February 8th, marking his 10th start in a Canucks uniform that season and, more importantly, his big pay day.

According to CapFriendly, Halak’s contract includes a $1.25 million performance bonus, which would be rewarded to the veteran if he starts in 10 games.

The other caveat surrounding the bonus was Vancouver’s cap situation.

As we all know, the Canucks are up against it financially this year, with the organization and fanbase both hoping for some much-needed cap relief moving forward.

However, if the team is unable to achieve that financial flexibility, they’ll be forced to move Halak’s performance bonus to next year’s cap situation, essentially kicking the can down the road for one more year, a move that the team cannot afford to do right now.

As previously mentioned, Halak’s 10th start was a disaster, allowing five goals in just over 16 minutes before making his way back to the bench to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines.

For the next 24 hours, fans were passionately vocal about Halak’s performance, going so far as to calculate the mathematical breakdown of how expensive Halak’s 16-minute outing turned out to be (which was around $78000 per minute for those that are wondering).

Fortunately for the fans, insider Elliotte Friedman was able to calm the masses and provide some additional clarity in one of his “32 Thoughts” articles.

According to Friedman, the $1.25 million performance bonus was dependant on the veteran completing 10 full starts, not just 10 appearances.

In other words, Canucks fans can once again breathe easy after Halak’s relief appearance on Saturday night.

The Canucks also have a fairly spaced out schedule moving forward, with the team playing Seattle on Monday and Calgary on Thursday, both of which should be given to Demko given the team’s current playoff race.

However, once the Canucks wrap up this mini homestand, they’ll make their way to the East Coast to take on the Rangers, Devils and Islanders. The first two games will also take place within 24 hours of each other, paving the way for Halak’s potential bonus day.

That is, if he’s still on the team by then.

Halak currently holds a record of 2-5-2 with a 2.93 GAA and .899 SV%. The 37-year-old is also currently below the required save percentage needed for his second bonus of $250,000 to kick in.

This year’s trade deadline is set for Monday, March 21st, so we’ll see if Jim Rutherford becomes aggressive earlier on.

Do you think Halak will hit his performance bonus? Let us know in the comments below!