Lots of names in before the deadline for player-elected salary arbitration here, but two of important note to Wings fans:
17 players filed for arbitration today: Aston-Reese (PIT), Colton (TB), Copp (WIN), Dickinson (VAN), Dunn (SEA), Erne (DET), Fabbro (NASH), Gilbert (COL), Hill (SJ), McNiven (MON), Mete (OTT), Pelech (NYI), Pionk (WIN), Sanford (STL), Saros (NASH), Vrana (DET) & Zadorov (CAL).
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 1, 2021
For a quick refresher on the entire process, here’s an old post from our Getting to Know the CBA series.
Related
Getting to Know the CBA – Episode 5: Arbitration
Here are the very basics:
Neither player is eligible to sign an offer sheet from this point, now that they’ve elected arbitration.
Both contracts are likely to be signed before an arbitration hearing happens. These are common in the NHL and often deals are signed last-minute before the hearing starts (it used to be that they would be signed between the start of the hearing and the arbitrator making their ruling, but that changed so it’s no longer allowed. Once the hearing starts, the sides are locked in).
The Wings will elect either one or two years in the case of Vrána and can only select one year for Erne (two is the overall max and you can’t select two years for a player who could be a UFA in one; such is the case with Erne.)
If the arbitrator is allowed to rule, the player and the club will be required to sign that contract. There’s a decent chance that in Vrána’s case, the club would actually have walk-away rights, because those are based on a minimum salary threshold where if the ruling is above that threshold, they could. According to Capfriendly, that dollar amount is currently just north of $4.5M
The arbitration schedule will follow in the coming weeks and we’ll learn when these two players will be due for their hearing. I’m expecting both will sign before a hearing starts.
The only other unsigned RFAs the Wings hold the rights to at this time are Filip Hronek, Givani Smith and Chase Pearson. Of those three, only Pearson is arbitration eligible.
