Today is the day where in all likelihood Mike Hoffman files for arbitration for the second straight year.
This is a good news, bad news scenario because in a month or so he will have a contract, whether the hearing goes ahead and he gets a 1 year deal and then unrestricted free agency or whether he and the club can come to terms on a longer deal before the hearing is held or the arbitrator releases his award.
Obviously, the optics aren't good if the Senators go to arbitration, because they are one of the few clubs who have actually seen that process through to the end.
Last season, 23 players filed for arbitration and 2 were taken to arbitration by their teams. Of those 25 cases, 8 actually had their hearings heard, and 3 went all the way to the arbitrator's ruling without coming to terms. Two of those 3 were Mike Hoffman and Alex Chiasson (Marcus Johansson was the other). In 2014, 23 cases were filed, with only 2 actually reaching the hearing and 1 verdict was rendered, and that was Vladimir Sobotka, who was already signed in Europe.
None of the 22 filed cases went to the hearing in 2013, and just 1 of 19 in 2012, and it was another case of a player who had already committed to play in Europe where the decision didn't matter.
So, in most cases the hearing date is simply a goal to get a deal done because they are messy. Hoffman's case might be messier than most because they went through it a year ago and he was awarded much less than he probably deserved and he proved himself to not be a one year wonder.
Ottawa won last time around, but I don't know if they would be so lucky this time, depending on the asking price. You can bet it will be north of $5M for the year.
And if they can't come to terms, knowing the player won't be overjoyed at having to go through the process twice in a row, he won't likely be interested in signing long term once he gets his UFA rights next July, so he might be even more likely to be dealt either in the offseason or at some point before the trade deadline.
The Senators will likely have walk-away rights should the award be too high, but I can't see them letting him walk for nothing with so much cap space available and having control of the asset for the next 12 months at least.
Hopefully saner heads prevail and after filing negotiations get moving and a long term deal can be agreed to, because you don't replace close to 30 goals very easily at this point in time, and the Sens aren't deep enough to replace it from within. It doesn't have to be a max 7 or 8 year deal, but certainly what he has done in the past 2 years has earned him some security of a 4 or 5 year contract.
Hoffman is an important piece of the present and hopefully future of the franchise and dragging this out any longer just looks bad, moreso on the Senators for multiple reasons - 1) delaying it after he did essentially what they asked of him at this time last year - to show it again and 2) the company line for years with respect to salary structure was to save the cap space and money to extend their own free agents when the time came. Well the time has come and it is time to put that money where their mouth has been or unease will soon become unrest in the Senators fan base.
Ryan Dzingel and Freddie Claesson also have arbitration rights, and they all have until 5:00 PM today to file.