With the hard salary cap making it increasingly hard for teams to pay their players, 24 NHL restricted free agents have filed for salary arbitration. To become arbitration eligible, a player requires 10 professional games in the past season.
Several notable players opted not to file for arbitration, thus leaving themselves open to offer sheets. Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk, Winnipeg’s Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Columbus’ Patrik Laine top this list.
NHL Salary Arbitration Explanation
For a refresher, salary arbitration is where a contract dispute is settled through the player and team each proposing a salary for the upcoming season at a hearing. The neutral third party (arbitrator) sets the player’s salary for the season after the process. If one signs an NHL contract before the age of 20, he must have four seasons of NHL experience to be eligible. If over 20, the term is decreased. The player can never receive less than 85% of his previous year’s salary and the team must make a decision to honour or decline the player’s awarded salary by the arbitrator in the next 48 hours after the hearing. If the team declines, the player can become an unrestricted free agent. (Ben Kerr – Last Word on Sports)
Andrew Mangiapane, Jesse Puljujarvi, Jesper Bratt among 24 RFAs to file for salary arbitration. 👀 https://t.co/KbXLoC48LU pic.twitter.com/8AP8OcsHkr
— theScore (@theScore) July 17, 2022
Arbitration Rules
An arbitrator can award either a one, or a two-year contract. If the arbitrator awards a one-year contract over the amount of $4,538,958, the team can choose to match, or can equally let the player become an unrestricted free agent. If the arbitrator awards a two-year contract, with an annual average value of $4,538,958 or greater, the team may opt out of the second year, thus making the player an unrestricted free agent the following season. Any annual average value under this threshold must be accepted by the team.
Full List of Players:
Anaheim Ducks: Isac Lundestrom
Arizona Coyotes: Lawson Crouse
Calgary Flames: Oliver Kylington, Andrew Mangiapane, Matthew Phillips
Carolina Hurricanes: Ethan Bear, Maxime Lajoie
Detroit Red Wings: Jake Walman
Edmonton Oilers: Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto
Nashville Predators: Yakov Trenin
New Jersey Devils: Jesper Bratt, Tyce Thompson, Vitek Vanecek
Ottawa Senators: Mathieu Joseph
Philadelphia Flyers: Zack MacEwen
Pittsburgh Penguins: Kasperi Kapanen
San Jose Sharks: Kaapo Kahkonen, Steven Lorentz
St. Louis Blues: Niko Mikkola (contract settled)
Vegas Golden Knights: Keegan Kolesar
Notable Players
Some of the more notable and impactful players on this list include: Andrew Mangiapane (Calgary), Jesse Puljujarvi (Edmonton), Jesper Bratt (New Jersey), Vitek Vanecek (New Jersey) and Kasperi Kapanen (Pittsburgh).
