Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Eleven NHL Players File for Salary Arbitration, per NHLPA

Originally posted on Blade of Steel | By Tom Banks | Last updated Jul 5, 2025 8:00 PM ET

The time for players to file for arbitration in the National Hockey League, and according to the NHLPA, 11 players have now done exactly that.

The NHL off-season has been off to a fantastic start, with surprise trades, plenty of movement at the draft and some big name free agents changing teams, but now, the summer could drag on.

There are plenty of teams with money to spend in trades, and as of now it's been a few days without a big move, but on Saturday we saw a very intriguing development for several players.

According to the NHLPA, 11 players around the league have filed for arbitration, including Gabriel Vilardi, Nick Robertson and Lukas Dostal among other very intriguing young names.

In the NHL, arbitration is simple: two sides put forth their case for a salary that makes most sense for both parties, while an independent arbitrator listens and awards a certain salary to these players in a contract year.

The deadline to nominate for salary arbitration is Sunday, meaning we could see some more names join this list soon, but perhaps more intriguing than who is on the list, is who isn't on the list.

According to reports, Bowen Byram is not on that list, meaning he remains an RFA and vulnerable to an offer sheet, and with so much interest in him around the league, this makes sense as he looks to find a long-term deal with whichever team either offer sheets him or trades for him.

Ultimately, this will be an intriguing story to keep an eye on moving forward, as Jeremy Swayman's arbitration was a perfect example of how this can fracture a relationship, so expect to hear much more about these 11 players in the coming days.

This article first appeared on Blade of Steel and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: