Arbitration filings show Flames and Brett Kulak are far apart

The Calgary Flames and Brett Kulak have a date on Monday morning in Toronto, as their salary arbitration hearing kicks off at 9 a.m. Both sides filed their arbitration briefs earlier today and a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicates that the two sides are quite far apart.

And by “far”, we mean $500,000 apart.

Kulak spent the entirety of last season on the NHL roster while working on a one-year, two-way contract making a league minimum of $650,000. His camp desires a raise. The Flames? They would like Kulak to continue to make league minimum, in theory because he hasn’t accomplished a whole lot in the NHL as of yet.

It’s worth noting that the Flames re-signed Dalton Prout to a one-way, $800,000 deal for this coming season despite Prout spending the majority of last season in the minors (or as a healthy scratch). But also remember from the outside, contract negotiations are contentious, often wildly illogical affairs.

Expect Kulak’s 2018-19 salary to be somewhere in the middle of the two asks, either via negotiation or by edict from the arbitrator.