40 players in total filed:
https://www.nhlpa.com/news/1-17569/4...ry-arbitration
Important dates
Deadline to file for arbitration:
Player elected - July 5, 5pm ET
club elected - July 6, 5pm ET
First day arbitration hearings can be scheduled: July 20
Last day arbitration hearings can be scheduled: August 4
Length of award
The party that does not file for arbitration can choose a 1 or 2 year length for the award. The exception is that if the player is 1 year away from UFA status, the award will automatically be 1 year.
Walk Away
The walkaway threshold for salary arbitration is ~$4.397 million per year.
If the arbitrator awards a player a contract for more than that amount, the team has the right to walk away form the award and the player becomes UFA.
Otherwise if it is at or below the threshold, the team must accept the arbitrator's award and the player is signed for that amount.
Second buy-out period
Second buy-out period opens 3 days after the club's final arbitration case is settled or the arbitrator gives out an award for the final case. This window opens for 48 hours. If the club has no arbitration cases, there is no buyout window for the club.
During this second buyout window, only players who were on the reserve list at the previous trade deadline and have a cap hit of ~$3.455 mil or more can be bought out.
offer sheets
Players who file for arbitration are no longer eligible to sign offer sheets.
OMG! he filed for arbitration, negotiations must be going bad!
Not necessarily. Arbitration is sometimes used as a tool to set a deadline or to ensure a player gets a contract.
Few players actually get to an arbitration hearing with a settlement occurring even minutes before the hearing is scheduled to begin. Last year 40 of the 44 cases were settled before the hearing.