This isn’t exactly breaking news, given that it has been several hours since the announcement that the Philadelphia Flyers have signed D Oliver Bonk of the OHL’s London Knights to his three-year, entry-level contract (ELC). However, I think there is still an opportunity here for some education on the nuances of how contracts, particularly entry-level deals, function in the National Hockey League for those who are uninitiated. We will also talk in some detail about Oliver Bonk’s individual value as a defensive prospect and expand upon some of what we’ve had to say about him already on this site.

Many fans have likely asked: “Why is Danny Briere signing a guy who is going back to the OHL this coming year?” There are a number of reasons why the promptness of this move is fundamentally sound. For starters, the retention of a draft selection’s rights vary depending on what system he is coming from. In the case of a player picked from the Canadian Hockey League (of which the Ontario Hockey League is one of three constituent parts, alongside the Western Hockey League [WHL] and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League [QMJHL, often referred to colloquially as “the Q”]), the team who drafted him only retains his rights for two years. Upon the expiry of this time period, he is eligible to enter the draft yet again, and can become an unrestricted free agent if he goes unselected. Though a few years old, this write-up by Bill Meltzer is still a valuable resource in how it describes the fine print on the rights to a pick in how they pertain to this conversation further. On a macro level, this is one justification for the sense of urgency in firmly locking down a CHL player who is a high value pick by a front office into their franchise’s system. In addition to this, there is something of a rolling timeline on these ELCs depending on the player’s utilization by their big league club. Though there are some nuances to it (which can be read about more in this Sporting News article), generally, the “entry-level slide” that the NHL sees to it that a player who is 18- or 19-years-old before September 15th of his signing year and does not play 10 games in the NHL in the ensuing season has his entry-level contract extended by one year. Therefore, teams need not concern themselves with “burning” a year of a deal by having a guy return to, in this instance, his CHL team, because that would not apply. Beyond that, 18- and 19-year-old players assigned to their team in the CHL do not count against a NHL team’s 50-contract-limit until he has played 11 games in a NHL season. On the player’s end (and most likely that of his agent), there is also almost assuredly the desire for the player to get a signing bonus which serves to complement the modest stipend he receives from his CHL team. This is guaranteed money regardless of where a player is playing, though it is worth noting that these payments are divvied up into “multiple installments of varying amounts across multiple contract years, typically when the new league year begins on July 1” as opposed to being paid in one lump sum as one might see in other industries. This about breaks down the essentials of this topic.

Let us talk about Oliver Bonk himself for a moment now. Oliver Bonk’s draft year comparables, as noted by Christian in his Flyers report, include Brendan Smith and Ryan Suter, according to Byron Bader’s HockeyProspecting model. That places him, at his current development level, alongside a defenseman who has been a pretty reliable possession player throughout most of his career, with his Corsi For% usually hovering above or near the 50% mark during much of his time in the NHL. Beyond that, the second-generation player (son of Radek Bonk) is also at a similar point in his development to the player who is the current leader among all active NHL players in defensive point shares and has always been lauded for his ability to eat minutes. Watching him play, reading the scouting reports, and looking at his raw OHL numbers, you see a young man who has some scoring upside and playmaking abilities, but is primarily lauded for his capacity to shut down attackers anywhere near or past his team’s blueline. What that amounts to is a player with value in all zones in the ice, but will primarily benefit the Flyers, a team with historic difficulties developing blueliners and exhibiting impatience with them, in his own zone. This is a part of their rebuild that will provide some value down the road that will perhaps largely go somewhat unheralded. I am eager to see what the future looks like for Bonk, and how he will contribute to the new-look Flyers we will see in a matter of a few seasons led by forwards such as Cutter Gauthier and Matvei Michkov (both of whom are exhibiting extreme amounts of promise in the NCAA and KHL respectively at the present time) and anchored by a blueliner of Bonk’s potential caliber, alongside whatever other pieces may blossom alongside them that are either currently in the system or will be drafted subsequently. His individual value only strengthens the case for him being signed very promptly and cemented as part of the Flyers’ pipeline.