Five Flames restricted free agents file for arbitration

The annual deadline for player-elected salary arbitration has arrived in the National Hockey League. Somewhat surprisingly, all five Calgary Flames restricted free agents who have earned arbitration rights have elected to use them.

The NHLPA has announced that Elias Lindholm, Mark Jankowski, Garnet Hathaway, Brett Kulak and David Rittich have all filed for arbitration.

As we detailed yesterday, Lindholm arguably has the best arbitration case given his level of NHL experience. Since we wrote that, Boone Jenner re-signed with Columbus (for four years with a $3.75 million AAV) and he’s an even better comparable than the players we cited – but again, he signed a multi-year deal while Lindholm would only get one or two years in arbitration.

The other four players have arguably weaker cases, but filing for arbitration puts their negotiations under a looming deadline to get something done. Arbitration is an adversarial process that neither side really wants to go through, lest they destroy the player/team relationship, so the tendency is for things to get done beforehand. Case in point: 30 players filed last year, just three made it into the hearing room.

For you #Bryout fans out there, the Flames get access to the second buyout window by virtue of merely having players file for arbitration. Even if all five players settle before the hearing, they can buy somebody out within a 48-hour period after the last scheduled league-wide arbitration hearing.

Since Brad Treliving became general manager in 2014, six Flames players have filed for arbitration. Only one (Lance Bouma) made it to the hearing, and all six ended with a settlement before the arbitrator’s verdict.

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