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Arbitration

Ryan Spooner Signs With Boston Bruins

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The Boston Bruins have avoided arbitration with Ryan Spooner after all, signing the restricted free agent forward to a one-year $2.825MM contract. Spooner was scheduled for a hearing today, and had asked for a $3.85MM contract. The team had countered with $2MM. Ryan Spooner

Spooner was one of the more interesting RFAs to watch this summer, who has obvious offensive talent but has been criticized throughout his short career for both his defensive play and effort level. The Bruins release seems to echo that idea, with this statement from GM Don Sweeney:

We know Ryan has the offensive skills to be an impactful player, especially while on the power play. We expect Ryan to continue to take the necessary steps with his development to be an even more complete, two-way player.

One of the better powerplay forwards in the league, he had run-ins with both Claude Julien and Bruce Cassidy throughout the season, and was eventually benched in the playoffs to make room for Sean Kuraly. Spooner remains a top trade candidate, and this contract could even make it easier to facilitate a move somewhere else around the league.

While some obviously think he’ll never turn around his defensive liabilities, a 40-point forward for less than $3MM is still a valuable commodity. The fact that Spooner can play center ice adds to that, though it was clear Boston didn’t love using him in that role this past season. Next season the Bruins could move him to the wing full-time if they believe Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson is ready to take over at center ice, though that is far from decided at this point.

Since Spooner is 25, this contract leaves him as a restricted free agent again next summer and eligible for arbitration once again. If it is with Boston, another big offensive season would force their hand into either signing him long-term or moving him somewhere that would. It will be interesting to see if they continue to give him powerplay time, because without it much of his leverage is taken away in negotiations.

The Bruins retain more than $10MM in cap space with which to sign David Pastrnak, a deal that should extend long-term and carry a very substantial cap hit. With another big cap hit added up front, it will be a tight fit next summer to hand out term to Spooner unless he makes himself indispensable this season. The Bruins will have five forwards already making at least $6MM each, taking up nearly half of the entire salary cap.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

New York Rangers Sign Mika Zibanejad To Five-Year Contract

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Just before the two sides headed into an arbitration hearing, the New York Rangers and Mika Zibanejad agreed to a five-year, $26.75MM contract. The deal will pay Zibanejad an average of $5.35MM per season. Craig Morgan of AZ Sports has the yearly breakdown:

  • 2017-18: $5MM salary + $1MM signing bonus
  • 2018-19: $5.5MM salary
  • 2019-20: $5.35MM salary
  • 2020-21: $2.65MM salary + $2.5MM signing bonus
  • 2021-22: $4.75MM salary

Zibanejad, 24, will be given the reins as the top center option in New York this year just a year after being acquired from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Derick Brassard. The Rangers shipped Derek Stepan out of town a few weeks ago, leaving Zibanejad and Kevin Hayes as the de facto top two options (unless the team decides to move J.T. Miller back to the middle at some point). With that comes some risk, but the Rangers feel as though the young center can step into the top role and run with it for the next several years.

Already with two 20-goal seasons under his belt by 23, Zibanejad was limited to just 56 games last season but still recorded 37 points and looked like the Rangers most dangerous forward on many nights. His improving faceoff skills and defensive play were on display during the shortened year, as was his fit on the Rangers’ powerplay. He’ll look to be a big part of what should be an improved group after the offseason addition of Kevin Shattenkirk, noted powerplay monster. With increased PP time, and a bigger role 5-on-5 you could see Zibanejad finally crack the 60-point mark if not higher this season. The ability is apparent, and now the opportunity is there to match it.

Interestingly though, Zibanejad comes in ahead of Tyler Johnson’s average salary of $5MM. Though Zibanejad is a couple of years younger than the Tampa Bay pivot, he’s still giving up three years of unrestricted free agency as he’s been playing in the league so long already. Though some would argue that Zibanejad’s future looks stronger as a true #1 center, Johnson has the higher peak season so far and has received Selke votes for his defensive prowess. Johnson also gave up six years of free agency in a deal that is looking better by the day.

The Rangers though will be happy to plug a $5.35MM number into their salary structure for the next five seasons, a number that will leave them with just over $3MM in cap room for the upcoming year. They have no more restricted free agents to sign, so it is possible they could dip their toes back into the UFA market if there is a player sitting out there that interests them. With Shattenkirk added and a more mobile defense corps they are definitely contenders to post a 100-point season or even win the Metropolitan division.

Matt Nieto Signs With Colorado Avalanche

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Another player has avoided arbitration, as according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet Matt Nieto has signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche for $1MM next season. Neito had an arbitration hearing scheduled for July 31st, but won’t need it any longer after reaching an agreement.

Nieto, 24, came to the Avalanche via waivers this season when they selected him from the San Jose Sharks in early January. Thrust into an increased role in Colorado, Nieto responded with 11 points in 43 games but was a rather effective penalty killer and depth winger. Though he hasn’t been able to replicate his 27-point 2014-15 season, he’s still a positive possession player and young enough to improve next season for the Avalanche.

Playing last year for just $735K, Nieto will get a nice raise before looking longer-term next summer. At that point he will be 25, arbitration eligible for the second time and just two years away from unrestricted free agency. Though he’s not a player you’d want to commit to for more than a few seasons at a time, he does still have that potential that made him a second-round pick and allowed him to dominate the college ranks for Boston University. Nieto recorded 102 points in his three-year career with BU, even though he debuted as a 17-year old playing against men much older than him.

Buffalo Sabres Sign Robin Lehner

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The Buffalo Sabres have avoided arbitration with goaltender Robin Lehner, signing him to a one-year contract worth $4MM. Lehner was due for a hearing on the 27th to determine his salary. The contract will keep Lehner under team control as a restricted free agent for one more year following its expiration. Robin Lehner

Lehner, 26, can be one of the most frustrating goalies in the league at times, and one of the most spectacular at others. While it’s clear that he has the talent to be one of the very top netminders in professional hockey, he does sometimes lose his concentration and can be prone to fiery outbursts. Even still, he recorded a .920 save percentage in his first year as a full-time starter, good for seventh in the league among goaltenders who started half their team’s games.

If it’s hard for Buffalo fans to fully get behind Lehner, its because of the high price they had to pay to get him. Two summers ago they sent a first-round pick to the Ottawa Senators for the goaltender and David Legwand, a selection that turned into blue-chip prospect Colin White. The Sabres expect quite a bit from their young goaltender, and with the struggles of the team it has been hard to justify that price. Lehner has a .921 save percentage since getting to Buffalo, and is clearly doing his part to help the Sabres out of the basement.

One of the more interesting notes about Lehner’s 2016-17 season was his struggles in the shootout. He allowed all eight attempts against him, making him 2/12 since joining the Sabres. Though the shootout is easily the least important part of a goaltender’s game, it is still frustrating for Sabres fans to watch them lose over and over in the skills competition.

Lehner will get a hefty raise to $4MM this season and could be in line for a substantial long-term contract even if he just repeats his performance from a year ago. Though new GM Jason Botterill would like to see what he has before giving out the keys to the net, allowing a talent like Lehner to walk in the summer of 2019 would be foolish.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Reid Boucher Signs One-Year Deal With Canucks

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Winger Reid Boucher, a restricted free-agent, signed a one-year contract with Vancouver tonight, avoiding the arbitration process. Boucher was scheduled to have his hearing on August 1st, but instead was able to hammer out a deal with Canucks management. The contract is worth a reported $687,5000, as Stephen Whyno of AP broke the news. This is definitely a “prove-it” sort of deal, and Boucher will need to carve out his own playing time through consistent effort.

Boucher swapped teams twice in 2016-17, moving from New Jersey to Nashville before settling in British Columbia. Boucher had his possession numbers improve under his tenure with Vancouver, playing 27 games for a relative Corsi For % of -0.6. Contrasted with his performance in New Jersey up to that point, he had seemingly started to find a groove. Boucher did find a bit of offensive production as well, scoring 6 goals and 4 points on the year in only 39 total games. At 23 years old, Boucher still has the potential to progress as a player. He is a bit undersized at a mere 5’10, but has shown flashes of being a cheap goal-scoring contributor. He’ll need to continue to clean up his two-way game in order to truly cement himself on an NHL roster.

With this contract signed, GM Jim Benning will now turn his attention to fellow RFA Bo Horvat and Brendan Gaunce. Gaunce is also a marginal piece, but Horvat will be a core player for many years. Locking him up on a longer deal at a reasonable hit now becomes Benning’s clear number one priority.

Nashville Predators Sign Austin Watson

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The Nashville Predators continue to lock up their young restricted free agents, this time inking Austin Watson to a three-year, $3.3MM contract. Watson was due for an arbitration hearing today and had asked for $1.4MM, but instead will have an average salary of $1.1MM for the next few years. He’ll earn just $1MM next year, $1.1MM in 2018-19 and $1.2MM in 2019-20. Austin Watson

Selected in the first round of the 2010 draft, Watson has had trouble reaching his potential of a middle-six power forward capable of scoring and dominating a game physically. That talent showed itself in the minors where he had three straight 20+ goal seasons, but hasn’t manifested in the NHL to this point. Fans did get a flash of his potential in the playoffs, where he recorded nine points in 22 games while being a wrecking ball in the corners and on the forecheck. He recorded 106 hits in the postseason, and seemed to always be forcing turnovers in the offensive zone because of his physical presence.

Despite the strong playoff run, Watson scored just 17 points during the season and has only registered nine goals in his entire career to this point. He needs to improve on that if he wants to earn more on the open market when he hits unrestricted free agency in three years. With the Predators’ losing James Neal and Colin Wilson this summer in various transactions, there is clearly an opportunity for Watson to help fill their roles up in the lineup. He’ll have to battle other young wingers like Pontus Aberg and Kevin Fiala for playing time in certain situations, but brings a much different play style than either of them.

Adding Watson’s $1.1MM cap hit, the Predators now have around $13.4MM left remaining under the cap and one restricted free agent still to sign. Ryan Johansen has been rumored to be asking for a deal worth as much as $8.5MM per season, but they should have more than enough room to fit that in going forward as GM David Poile has signed players to incredibly team-friendly deals over the past few years. Ryan Ellis will earn just $2.5MM in each of the next two seasons, while Calle Jarnkrok has five years remaining at $2MM per season. Watson could easily break out and be added to that group, as his relatively low salary is almost risk-free.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Boston Bruins, Ryan Spooner Exchange Arbitration Figures

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With an upcoming arbitration hearing on Wednesday July 26th, Ryan Spooner and the Boston Bruins have exchanged salary figures. According to Tim Wharnsby of CBC, the Bruins have offered a one-year deal worth $2MM, while Spooner is seeking a $3.85MM decision. As reported yesterday, it seems likely the two sides will reach the hearing without a deal in place.

Whatever you think of Spooner and his defensive deficiencies, he’s proven over the past two seasons that he can be a capable offensive player and is extremely dangerous on the powerplay. With 88 points over the past two seasons, he’d been extremely underpaid at just $950K per season. It’s clear he thinks he’s worth much more than that, and if any long-term deal is to be reached it would have to fairly compensate him for that production. A one-year deal through arbitration will keep Spooner under team control again next offseason as a restricted free agent, giving the Bruins another chance to evaluate him this year.

That is, if he remains on the Bruins roster to start the year. Trade rumors have surrounded Spooner for some time, especially after comments he made regarding fired head coach Claude Julien and a feeling of distrust. Though Spooner had expressed some hope to fix that relationship with Bruce Cassidy, the coach who replaced Julien and had worked with Spooner before in the minor leagues, his ice time actually decreased in the latter part of the season before being scratched in the playoffs for Sean Kuraly.

It’s rare that players are traded just before heading to arbitration, so there is a possibility the Bruins will argue for a lower number only to move him out in the near future. Otherwise, he’ll enter a lineup that is looking younger and younger as one of the pieces Cassidy will have to rely on for some consistent offensive production. What role he would be deployed in is unclear, as the Bruins will look at young college talents like Anders Bjork and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson in camp as potential options up front.

Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Brian Dumoulin To Six-Year Contract

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Even though Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford had be clear he expected to go to arbitration with Brian Dumoulin, the two sides have agreed to a six-year contract instead. The deal will pay Dumolin $4.1MM per season for a total of $24.6MM and keep him in Pittsburgh through the 2022-23 season. Dumoulin was set to have a hearing today, but like many other players before him has inked a deal in the final moments. Brian Dumoulin

Just 25, Dumoulin has slowly developed into a huge part of the Pittsburgh defense, cracking the 20 minutes/game mark for the first time this season. That 20:33 mark put him second on the team among those who played the majority of the season (Ron Hainsey’s 16-game stint in the second half ranked slightly above) only behind Kris Letang. In 70 games, Dumoulin registered 15 points and was a rock for the club in the playoffs once again. With back-to-back Stanley Cup victories, the young defenseman has proven his worth on the biggest stage.

Amazingly for those two seasons Dumoulin was earning just $800K each year, his second deal after a relatively fruitless entry-level contract. Selected in the second round, he first went off to Boston College to star in the NCAA before needing several years of minor league seasoning with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. For a defensive stalwart who can skate against the other team’s top players, refining his positioning and zone exits were the biggest hurdle. Dumoulin turned himself from a risk-taking offensive threat to more of a stay at home presence, a nice compliment to some of the Penguins other puck movers. With a 6’4″ frame that he can move up and down the ice at an impressive pace, he can be useful in all situations and should only be given more responsibility in the mold of a Marc-Eduoard Vlasic going forward.

Interestingly, the $4.1MM salary comes in just below what Dumoulin was asking ($4.35MM) through arbitration for just a one-year deal. The Penguins had countered with a curiously low $1.95MM figure, one that he obviously will surpass next year by giving away four UFA seasons. He comes in just ahead of Olli Maatta among Penguins’ defensemen, and completes what should be an effective group again this season. The team now has $6.3MM remaining in cap space, though Conor Sheary remains unsigned and heading to an arbitration hearing on August 4th.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Winnipeg Jets Sign Connor Hellebuyck

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The Winnipeg Jets have avoided arbitration with Connor Hellebuyck, signing the goaltender to a one-year $2.25MM contract for 2017-18. Hellebuyck was scheduled for an arbitration hearing on August 1st, but will instead come back on a short-term deal. Hellebuyck was Winnipeg’s final restricted free agent to sign this summer. Connor Hellebuyck

It will be interesting to see the role for Hellebuyck this season after the Jets brought in Steve Mason in unrestricted free agency for $4.1MM per season. Still just 24, Hellebuyck struggled at times with the starting role last year and only finished with a .907 save percentage for the season. The team also still has Michael Hutchinson under contract for $1.15MM this season, though he’s a candidate for waivers and a role in the AHL similar to Ondrej Pavelec last season.

Hellebuyck has come a long way since being selected in the fifth round in 2o12, but will need to prove that he can handle a bigger role before the team hands him the net long-term. Though his youth and potential would be a perfect fit for a Jets team that is on the rise, they have struggled too long with below average goaltending and will hope Mason can stabilize the position for the next couple of seasons.

The deal will leave Hellebuyck as a restricted free agent again next summer, and the Jets in a tough spot should he improve on his production this season. Should he be in line for a raise once again, they’ll have quite the expensive duo in net for 2018-19.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Which Of The RFAs Slotted For Arbitration Will Earn The Most?

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Arbitration can be a useful tool for players in a number of ways. It accelerates the contract negotiation process and puts it on a definitive timetable. It puts the player in a position where they can (theoretically) promote their own cause and posture for a greater paycheck. And in some cases, the threat of a mere one-to-two year ruling scares the team in question into handing out more term than they may otherwise have been comfortable.

With Tomas Tatar earning $5.3 MM AAV, Viktor Arvidsson earning $4.25 MM, and Colton Parayko raking in $5.5 MM all in the last few days, many players are earning longer deals with impressive cap hits before reaching their scheduled date. Only 14 names remain slotted for arbitration, but there are still a few names out there who are seeking a raise. Those players are Austin Watson, Brian Dumoulin, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Spooner, Robin Lehner, Matt Nieto, Connor Hellebuyck, Reid Boucher, Calvin de Haan, Nate Schmidt, Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund, Conor Sheary, and Nathan Beaulieu.

Keep in mind that most of the remaining names will likely come to an agreement prior to their dates, which could affect the prices. That said, who do you think ends up seeing the highest AAV on their next contract? Take our poll below!

(Mobile users, click here to vote.)

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