A word to the wise, if NHL restricted free agents can be counted among them: Get 'er done.
As the deadline arrived for salary arbitration filings, by both players and teams, the smartest move any player could make would be to reach agreement on a contract before stepping into a hearing.
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Oh, maybe there's more money to be had or longer-term security to be achieved. But the enmity cannot be erased. You have been warned, Tyson Barrie and Jaden Schwartz.
Tyson Barrie and Jaden Schwartz (Getty Images)
Hearings will be scheduled July 20 to Aug. 4, and arbiters must deliver their decisions within 48 hours of the showdown. Terms can be for one or two years.
One team decided to take a player to arbitration: the Red Wings, with goalie Petr Mrazek. That brought the total number of cases to 25.
Or, 24: The Wings and goaltender Jared Coreau on Thursday agreed to a two-year contract.
Or, 23: The Devils' Kyle Palmieri signed five-year, $23.25 million contract on Thursday.
Arbitration cases, Luke Fox of Canada's SportsNet wrote last year, "usually result in a game of chicken, the two sides rarely completing the arbitration process. The majority of salary disputes are settled prior to an arbitrator's ruling."
Which is a good thing. Players generally get dragged through the mud, especially those in arbitration at the team's request. The best thing about arbitration is that players who file can't accept another team's offer sheet.
Rare things, those offer sheets.
History is littered with bad feelings, most notably goalie Tommy Salo and the Islanders. In 1997, then-GM Mike Milbury ripped Salo a new one before the arbiter. The story goes, Milbury's hatchet job on Salo, his No. 1 goalie and a guy he didn't like, left Tommy in tears.
Now Salo was the sensitive type, but still …
Then there's the case of Brendan Morrison and the Canucks. Then-GM Brian Burke likened Morrison to a mouse carried across a river by two elephants; in his case, primo wingers Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi. Burke then reportedly said: “After inviting us into the alley, you can't complain if you get kicked in the groin.”
Morrison became the mouse that roared, getting a two-year, $4.6 million decision after making $770,000 the year before.
If arbitration spurs negotiation, we have a winner. If not, there are no winners; there is a loser and a side that isn't all that happy.
There are rules about what can be used as evidence in hearings. Still, some of the stuff will be harsh. Few cases are as course as the Milbury-Salo debacle, which proved a failure for all involved.
Of 23 arbitration cases in 2015, all but three were settled before a hearing. Good. There are provisions, however, for team or player to walk away from an arbitration decision. Bad.
Just because a player files for arbitration doesn't mean he is bound to his team. Taylor Beck filed last year, and a week later was traded by the Maple Leafs to the Oilers.
There have been fewer than a dozen instances of a team walking away, including three in 2010. Fresh off winning the Stanley Cup that spring, the Blackhawks decided a $2.75 million award to goalie Antti Niemi was too flush to fit under their salary cap. Rather than say uncle, they said goodbye to Antti and instead signed Marty Turco for $1.3 million.
This isn't "The Price is Right"; this is the black side of the business.
So good luck to these players, many of them significant, as they push for settlement with their teams.
Arizona Coyotes: Michael Stone
Colorado Avalanche: Tyson Barrie, Mikhail Grigorenko
Detroit Red Wings: Jared Coreau (settled), Danny DeKeyser
Minnesota Wild: Jordan Schroeder
Nashville Predators: Petter Granberg, Calle Jarnkrok
New Jersey Devils: Kyle Palmieri (settled)
New York Rangers: Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider, Dylan McIlrath, J.T. Miller
Ottawa Senators: Mike Hoffman
Philadelphia Flyers: Brandon Manning, Brayden Schenn, Jordan Weal
St. Louis Blues: Jaden Schwartz
Tampa Bay Lightning: Alex Killorn, Vladislav Namestnikov
Toronto Maple Leafs: Frank Corrado, Peter Holland, Martin Marincin
Washington Capitals: Marcus Johansson