P.K. Subban of the Montreal Canadiens is the biggest name among the 20 players that filed for Salary Arbitration prior to Saturday’s deadline.
Other notable names include Subban’s teammate Lars Eller, 3 high-profile players from the Eastern Conference Champion New York Rangers (Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello & Derick Brassard) along with Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer and defenseman Cody Franson.
The lone member of the Ottawa Senators organization to file was Derek Grant, who made $65,000 as an AHL regular last season and seems buried on the Senators depth chart.
Some notable players who elected not to file for arbitration include Edmonton’s Justin Schultz, Nashville’s Ryan Ellis, Boston’s Torey Krug and the Leafs’ Jake Gardiner.
Teams can also take a player to arbitration, and the deadline for team-elected arbitration according the the NHLPA’s website is 6:00 PM Sunday evening.
Most of the players who file will be settled before the arbitration cases are actually heard, because it is a messy process that players don’t like because the team needs to argue why they don’t deserve what they are asking for. Arbitration in most cases sets a deadline for negotiations to get done, and most of the time it happens.
Last season, all 21 players who filed for arbitration ended up settling their contracts before the hearing, as did all 17 players who filed in 2012.
Subban’s contract might be the most contentious negotiation, after being forced to take a 2 year “bridge deal” last time around, and all he did was go out and win a Norris Trophy and become one of the top 10 blueliners in the NHL.
The hearings, should there actually be any, will take place between July 20th and August 4th. That is where both sides will submit a contract proposal, argue their side and an independent individual will decide on a 1 or 2 year contract at one figure or the other, or somewhere in between. You can see the entire list of players who filed at the NHLPA’s website.