[News] Kulak arb numbers. Kulak asking for $1.15M. Flames countering with 2 way $650k

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by BruceCody

Pay over $6 mil for 3rd pairing guy. Mmm, delicious

Well, he's not going to remain a first pairing guy for the entire contract, regardless of how much he is paid, and 6M then will be a much smaller portion of the total cap at that time. Such is the nature of signing aging players to long-term contracts. Gio has been great value for his contract so far, but he likely won't be in the later years of the contact. And you slot players according to their performance and what they bring to the team, not according to their salaries.

Alternatively, someone has to be traded. Some will hate this suggestion, but the best option to trade may actually be Gio in 2 years, while he is still good value for his contract.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Macindoc

Does anyone know if they can assign him to Stockton in the offseason immediately if he gets a 2-way in arbitration? Does he then have to pass through waivers again if he attends training camp for the main team?

A player does not need to pass through waivers if the player has not been on the NHL active roster for a cumulative 30 days since last clearing waivers, and has not played in 10 or more NHL games.

Since there are more than 30 days until the start of the season, my understanding is that he will have to be waived again.

[Bongsong]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

A player does not need to pass through waivers if the player has not been on the NHL active roster for a cumulative 30 days since last clearing waivers, and has not played in 10 or more NHL games.

Since there are more than 30 days until the start of the season, my understanding is that he will have to be waived again.

But is the roster not active tell the day before the season starts? or when they have there final cuts?

We don't have an active roster right now do we?

[tkflames]

My guess is that the arbitrator will award a $900k one way deal. Not sure if 1 or 2 years, but I will guess 2.

[1_Flames_Fan]

My guess is 850k 1 way. Which is a fair price for Kulak in my opinion.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Bongsong

But is the roster not active tell the day before the season starts? or when they have there final cuts?

We don't have an active roster right now do we?

Actually, we do. Teams are assumed to have an active roster for the purpose of calculating cap hits during the summer. A team can go up to 10% over the cap for that hypothetical roster, but not more.

[442scotty]

I always liked Kulak but this is probably his last contract what with the up and coming prospects chasing him down. Unless he has an enormous break through year...

[sureLoss]

Waivers to assign player to the minors begins 12 days before the regular season starts.

Any waivers before then have no impact on player assignment to the minors.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Waivers to assign player to the minors begins 12 days before the regular season starts.

Any waivers before then have no impact on player assignment to the minors.

I read that to mean that if you put a player on waivers before that date, he has to clear waivers again before he can be assigned to the minors. Am I understanding correctly?

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

I read that to mean that if you put a player on waivers before that date, he has to clear waivers again before he can be assigned to the minors. Am I understanding correctly?

It does, yes. The full wording of the rule from the CBA:

The "Playing Season Waiver Period" shall begin on the twelfth (12th) day prior to the start of the Regular Season and end on the day following the last day of a Club's Playing Season. Subject to the provisions of this Article, the rights to the services of a Player may be Loaned to a club of another league, upon fulfillment of the following conditions, except when elsewhere expressly prohibited:
(a) Regular Waivers were requested and cleared during the Playing Season Waiver Period; and
(b) the Player has not played in ten (10) or more NHL Games cumulative since Regular Waivers on him were last cleared, and more than thirty (30) days cumulative on an NHL roster have not passed since Regular Waivers on him were last cleared.

[Imported_Aussie]

If the flames feel the arbitrator will go to the middle ground, 900k one way, they may want to jump in now and offer one way at a lower amount to see if Kulak bites. Sell him on being a cap team, keeping his hit below competing players for that spot, something around 725-750k
If he gets 900k, and the team is closer to the cap and worried about Tkachuk's bonuses, then he would need to clearly beat Andersson and Valimaki to be worth keeping, and if they are really pinching pennies, he is also less attractive in the press box
I don't know if the cap will be that tight, but it could become a factor

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by tkflames

My guess is that the arbitrator will award a $900k one way deal. Not sure if 1 or 2 years, but I will guess 2.

1 vs. 2 years is team option on player-elected arbitration, isn't it?

Originally Posted by Imported_Aussie

If the flames feel the arbitrator will go to the middle ground, 900k one way, they may want to jump in now and offer one way at a lower amount to see if Kulak bites. Sell him on being a cap team, keeping his hit below competing players for that spot, something around 725-750k
If he gets 900k, and the team is closer to the cap and worried about Tkachuk's bonuses, then he would need to clearly beat Andersson and Valimaki to be worth keeping, and if they are really pinching pennies, he is also less attractive in the press box
I don't know if the cap will be that tight, but it could become a factor

Depends on whether making the big team or making more money is the bigger motivator. I would think that most players would be motivated to take a bit less in order to be in the NHL, especially if they are competing with similar players who would make less in the NHL.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Macindoc

I would think that most players would be motivated to take a bit less in order to be in the NHL, especially if they are competing with similar players who would make less in the NHL.

One would indeed think so. But every now and then, a player gets a big head and thinks he is so much better than those other guys that he doesn't need to compete with them on price.

We tend to hear about these guys in those cases where they turn down a multi-year contract extension for millions per season, and then the next year they're going from camp to camp looking for a PTO. Oops.

[getbak]

Arbitration hearings start at 9:00am ET, so we're less than a half hour away.

Will they get something done before the hearing starts? I guess we'll find out soon.

[kyuss275]

My guess they settle just before at $800,000 one way.

[puckedoff]

Can you imagine if you had to go through an arbitration hearing at work, and your boss just absolutely belittles/destroys/wrecks you and then at the end its a cheery "see you at work tomorrow!".

[DJones]

Originally Posted by puckedoff

Can you imagine if you had to go through an arbitration hearing at work, and your boss just absolutely belittles/destroys/wrecks you and then at the end its a cheery "see you at work tomorrow!".

Ya that's what I was thinking. They must be lowballing him hard.

Having the GM openly talk about how great two young guys that want to take your job are, would be stressful enough.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by puckedoff

Can you imagine if you had to go through an arbitration hearing at work, and your boss just absolutely belittles/destroys/wrecks you and then at the end its a cheery "see you at work tomorrow!".

Well, I think its about to happen to Kulak. It isnt going to be pretty but ultimately I think the message here from management is that Kulak is just killing time until someone else is ready to take his spot.

[GioforPM]

FWIW, Trouba asked for $7M, the Jets countered at $4M, the arbitrator awarded $5.5. Exactly halfway.

I've had some cases in front of arbitrators where the award was way closer to my pitch than the other side's (though never exactly) but there is certainly a bias in favour of a fairly even split. Especially where the award is on one value (as opposed to a number of smaller disputes), and the amount is so subjective. I just went through one on property values, using expert appraisals, and the result was almost evenly split.

[Street Pharmacist]

When would we expect a ruling?