On Wednesday, 22 restricted free agents applied for salary arbitration before the 5 pm est deadline, the NHLPA confirmed.
Those individuals will hash out their 2023-2024 salaries in court if they cannot agree on a number with their respective franchises by the end of the month, at which point a neutral arbitrator will rule between the player’s demands and the team’s offer.
Typically, the parties will agree to a contract before that happens, but arbitration remains a valuable leveraging tool for players and teams that cannot settle on an amount. Frank Seravalli shared the NHLPA’s complete list of players who filed for a hearing.
A pair of critical goaltenders lead this year’s 22 arbitration filers (down from last year’s 24), as Filip Gustavsson and Ilya Samsonov remain unsigned by the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively.
Gustavsson had a breakout season for Minnesota in 2022-2023 and had unseated former Vezina Trophy winner and future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury by the time the Stanley Cup Playoffs rolled around. Gustavsson finished his first season in green-and-red with a 22-9-7 record, 2.10 GAA and .931 save percentage.
The Wild lost their first-round matchup with the Dallas Stars, but figure to be desperate to lock up the 25-year-old, even despite owing an unprecedented $14.74 million in dead cap over the next two seasons.
Samsonov could join a long list of Maple Leafs who are heading into contract years if he does not agree to a lengthy deal before his arbitration date. The Russian stopped .919 percent of shots he faced over 42 starts this past season and would form a formidable goaltending duo with Joe Woll if he stayed in Toronto long-term.
New Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving owes stars Auston Matthews and William Nylander new contracts, though, and did not lock in free-agent acquisitions Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi past 2024. Treliving has some financial gymnastics ahead of him if the Leafs are to remain a contender.
Other notable players to file were Tanner Jeannot, for whom the Lightning paid a king’s ransom at the trade deadline, newly-acquired Winnipeg Jet Gabe Vilardi and the Kraken’s top blueliner, Vince Dunn.
Arbitration hearings will take place between July 27 and August 11 and players cannot win less than 85 percent of what they made last season.
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