TSN.ca has the listing of the players from each team heading for arbitration and the dates for their respective hearings.
The most notable:
Derek Roy (Buffalo Sabres): July 27th.
Mike Cammalleri (LA Kings): August 2nd.
Nick Schultz (Minnesota Wild): July 26th.
Michael Ryder (Montreal Canadiens): July 30th.
Trent Hunter (NY Islanders): August 1st.
Sean Avery & Marcel Hossa (NY Rangers): July 30th and August 2nd respectively.
Ray Emery, Chris Kelly & Christoph Schubert (Ottawa Senators): July 24th, August 1st and July 27th respectively.
Lee Stempniak (St. Louis Blues): July 31st.
It'll be interesting to see which of these players end up signed before their arbitration hearings. It's never a good experience for the player or his respective team management. The player argues why he's worth a certain salary, the management argues why he isn't.
More often than not, arbitration tends to lay the groundwork for the player's eventual departure via trade or unrestricted free agency within one or two seasons of his award. It's tough to get over hearing your employer belittle your value merely to save a few bucks.
1) Who can forget Mike Milbury making Islander goalie Tommy Salo cry at his hearing.
2) In most of these alluded to instances the process will be avoided. Its usually in both parties interests to have this settled amicably
Last edited by fauxrumors5 on July 16th at 8:02 PM.
1) MPH: Milbury was (finally) forced into 'exile' from the Island anyway. Amazingly he was rumored to be returning to coaching/GM'ing. We find it amazing that ANYONE would consider him for that
3) He did his best work as a TV analyst for ESPN. He would be a good addition to Versus and give that moribund bunch a little sizzle
The only teams that really have to worry are NYR and OTT. Emery could somehow get 5mil. As for NYR they might have to walk away if Avery or Hossa get too much.
I agree with Milbury's talent in the broadcast studio. I think the same characteristics that make him a terrible GM make him a great commentator: he is spontaneous, controversial, and talks a heck of a lot without really saying anything. Maybe he could pull off some trades with that Versus group. Is there any doubt when Barry Melrose's contract is up with ESPN he is bolting to Versus? It's like an ESPN B-team there anyhow.
A team is running low on cap space, but they don't want some of their key RFA's to be subject to offer sheets. Said team makes a handshake deal for a contract provided the RFA's in question file for arbitration until the necessary funds are available to make the deal official.
Is this scenario legal, and is it possible that's what's happening in the Rangers camp?
It's interesting. I don't see any reason why any of those types of deals wouldn't be legal, and I'm quite sure they go on (successfully or not) in one form or another all the time. A lot of them we probably don't even hear about. Of course the trouble with a handshake deal is that there is always the potential to back out, so the player would be taking a risk anytime it's a "we'll pay you when we can" situation. Ultimately, here, though, they would likely be awarded more than the team wished to pay in arbitration anyway, as in your scenario the RFAs are good enough to be considered as potential offer sheet targets. So the bottom line is I am sure plenty of backroom politics goes on as every team looks to put itself in as best a situation as possible following the outcome of the arbitration cases. If they can clear the money to settle it in the meantime, well, all the better.
MPH: true enough. Seems like it'd be a fairly effective tactic in Avery's case. Not so sure about Hossa. I don't know what his market value is these days.
I am most intrigued by Ray Emery's situation. I wonder if he will be affected (negatively) by Lunqvist's (sp) deal in New York? I also wonder if the arbitration result is too rich, would Ottawa walk away from the deal and try to sign a guy like CuJo? Would you bank on Martin Gerber taking you back to the conference finals? I am glad I am not in Bryan Murray's shoes on that.
How did I miss commenting on Mike Milbury? As an avid Islander fan, I don't believe he deserves nor is he qualified for any kind of hockey decisions or opinions - the only thing he can do well is to enter the stands and beat a fan with his own shoe!
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
