Prout was making 1.9M in the AHL last year (pro-rated after the trade that brought him over), while Kulak had a two-way contract playing in the NHL.
There's a clearly more apt examples to use of the owners willing to spend money (but likely not being happy to do so) for the sake of the team. We clearly agree on that.
It's just a question of how much they are willing to unnecessarily handicap themselves in terms of potentially saving money. I see no reason why the Flames wouldn't have played hardball and gone for a two-way contract. It could save them 100's of thousands of dollars if Kulak ends up in the AHL. Perfectly acceptable business move. I also see less reason for Kulak to accept a two-way contract if he was advised that he was likely to receive a one-way from an arbitrator. A perfectly acceptable financially decision on the part of Kulak. And the different viewpoint is why they went to arbitration. I don't think we need to over complicate things and talk about 6K in savings over player X.
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