We finally have some information on the arbitration front. We have the official asking price from both player and team for Brian Dumoulin
Brian Dumoulin: PIT offer $1.95M. Player ask is $4.35M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 22, 2017
And wouldn't you know it one price is too high and one price is too low. It's almost like both sides are trying to drag the actual price to a place in the middle. That middle ground is 3.15M and I think that is a fair number right now for Dumoulin considering his lack of offensive production and positive contributions to controlled exits.
I bet the number that gets ultimately gets decided on whether through arbitration or a straight up contract extension will end up around 3.5M.
For those unaware of how the arbitration process works Mike Colligan contributed to a very interesting piece on Pensburgh where arguments on the player's behalf were made as well as from the team side of things. You can read that here:
The mock arbitration of Brian Dumoulin. We present a case & @mikecolligan sits in as special guest to give an award https://t.co/Kt1Gb2BEHE
— Pensburgh (@Pensburgh) July 21, 2017
My guess is that if Pittsburgh can keep the money around 3.5M they will offer Dumoulin term on a deal before arbitration. If he wants an Olli Maatta contract they will take their chances with the arbitrator's one or two year deal.
The Penguins have about 10.4M in cap space right now. The 2017-18 season won't be an issue cap wise to re-sign both Brian Dumoulin and Conor Sheary. It's about having financial flexibility in the years to come. Marc-Andre Fleury's contract being off the books helps out a lot, but these are the mid-tier contracts that the team can't afford to blindly overpay. Based on Pittsburgh's 1.95M offer in arbitration it is something that they understand as well.
The low offer shouldn't be taken as an insult. Just like the high offer from Dumoulin shouldn't be considered absurd. This is how you play the RFA arbitration game.
This is player initiated arbitration for both Dumoulin and Sheary so the team has the right to decline the offer and allow the player to become a UFA. That won't happen.
Dumoulin's hearing is scheduled for Monday July 24th. Stay tuned
Thanks for reading!