Nick Suzuki’s New Contract Includes A Funny, Yet Subtle Detail

Montreal Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki started the first year of his eight-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens on July 13, and one aspect of his contract has people chuckling.

The 22-year-old center signed his eight-year, $63M contract on October 12, 2021, but had to wait until this July for the contract to kick in due to having one year left on his entry-level contract (ELC) prior to signing his extension. When top young players sign long-term deals out of their ELCs, they usually tend to want to modify the terms of the contract to fit their financial and personal needs at that given moment. Recently, it has become increasingly common to have their contracts built in a way that is symbolic for the player in question, usually referring to numbers or dates of importance. This is precisely what happened with Nick Suzuki’s contract.

According to our friends at Puckpedia, the young centre is set to earn $10M in actual salary during the 2022-2023 NHL season, split between base salary and signing bonus, despite having an annual average value (AAV) of $7.875M per season. The young center is sent to earn $5,999,986 in base salary next year, with the rest being delivered in signing bonuses. Suzuki had his agent stipulate that his signing bonus, the only one he’ll receive until the 2028-2029 season, be $4,000,014 to reflect the No.14 he wears for the Montreal Canadiens. That amount was promptly paid to him on July 13th, instead of the traditional July 1, due to temporary rule changes for contracts signed between late 2020 and 2022.

With Nick Suzuki about to start his first season as the Montreal Canadiens’ highest-paid forward, it will be very interesting to see how he performs under all the pressure in the Montreal market. However, Suzuki’s laid-back personality, subtle points of comedy and impressive maturity will help him handle the additional pressure down the line, especially as his leadership role continues to evolve.