Six NHL RFAs have dates scheduled for a salary arbitration hearing in 2025.
After the NHL Players' Association previously announced hearings would be held between July 20 and Aug. 4, PuckPedia reported the schedule now runs from July 28 to Aug. 3 as follows:
July 28: Arvid Soderblom, G, Chicago Blackhawks
July 29: Maxim Tsyplakov, RW, New York Islanders
July 30: Dylan Samberg, D, Winnipeg Jets
Aug. 2: Conor Timmins, D, Buffalo Sabres
Aug. 3: Nick Robertson, LW, Toronto Maple Leafs
Aug. 3: Jayden Struble, D, Montreal Canadiens
On those days, the player (with the NHLPA and/or the player's representative) and their respective teams (with a league representative) will try to persuade an independent arbitrator to award a contract that favors their case. Both parties can use statistics, player comparables and other allowed evidence to make their case.
All the scheduled hearings are for player-elected arbitration cases. The two players in team-elected arbitration cases – the Sabres' Bowen Byram and Utah Mammoth's Jack McBain – have since signed contracts.
Five RFAs who filed for arbitration – the Anaheim Ducks' Lukas Dostal and Drew Helleson, Winnipeg Jets' Gabriel Vilardi and Morgan Barron, and Seattle Kraken's Kaapo Kakko – have also since settled on new deals. Kakko's hearing was scheduled for July 25.
That said, the remaining players and squads still have time to avoid this potentially contentious process. But if they do have the hearing, the team has options of what to do afterward.
Before The Hearing
Any RFA who's scheduled for arbitration cannot sign an offer sheet with another club at this point.
They can, however, settle the case and re-sign with their current team at any time before the beginning of the hearing, which is usually at 9 a.m. ET except when the NHL and NHLPA agree to change it.
After The Hearing
The arbitrator must issue and email the decision to the parties within 48 hours of the end of the hearing.
The contract must be either one or two years long. In a player-elected salary arbitration, the team elects the length, and in a club-elected arbitration, the player chooses the term. If the player is one year away from unrestricted free agency, however, then the award can only be for one season.
The arbitrator will establish the term, salary, minor-league salary if they decide to include one and the reasons for the decision.
In a player-elected arbitration, if the awarded average annual value is at least $4.85 million, the team can walk away from one year of the contract. If the club walks away from a one-year contract, the player becomes a UFA. On an awarded two-year deal, the team can opt for a one-year contract instead, and the player would be a UFA once it ends. The squad only has 48 hours to notify the parties of that decision.
Three days after the last arbitration case is either awarded or settled, a second buyout window opens for NHL teams that had a player file for arbitration. Only contracts with a cap hit greater than $4 million that were on the team's roster at the last NHL trade deadline can be bought out in this window.
Arbitration rules are according to the NHL and NHLPA collective bargaining agreement and, when hyperlinked, PuckPedia.
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