44 NHL players filed for salary arbitration earlier this month and those who have not reached a settlement with their clubs will begin meetings in Toronto on Friday.
The first player scheduled is Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba, who is coming off a two-year bridge deal and is two years away from being an unrestricted free agent.
There has been speculation that the Jets and Trouba will reach an accommodation on a long-term deal, but a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated that the two sides were $3 Million apart (Winnipeg offered $4 Million, Trouba’s representatives asked for $7 Million), which increases the possibility of another bridge deal for the 24-year-old blueliner, allowing him to hit the open market at 26.
On Monday, Minnesota defenseman Mathew Dumba will have his hearing. The 23-year-old posted a career-high 50 points last season and like Trouba is two years away from being unrestricted. Wild GM Paul Fenton has a difficult task over the next few weeks, with Dumba and leading goal scorer Jason Zucker looking for new deals and less than $10 million in available cap space.
Both situations could end up being opportunities for the Toronto Maple Leafs to take advantage of either way they go.
Winnipeg resolved one of their restricted free agent situations on Thursday by signing center Adam Lowry to a three-year, $8.75 Million deal, but they still have Trouba, Brandon Tanev, Marko Dano, Josh Morrissey, Tucker Poolman, Nic Petan, Nicolas Kerdiles, Eric Comrie and JC Lipon to get signed this summer and the hurdle of getting Patrik Laine, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor signed next summer.
If Trouba and the Jets fail to reach an agreement and compromise on a short-term deal, it automatically puts pressure on Winnipeg to decide whether they will allow the blueliner to play out his deal and possibly walk in two years or trade him for a good return at some point before that happens.
If Winnipeg signs Trouba for six or seven years (which would entail a cap hit over $6 million AAV), they may not have much room to play with to get all their other free agents signed, which could result in GM Kevin Cheveldayoff shopping pending UFA Tyler Myers.
Minnesota will want to lock up Dumba on a long-term deal and may have some wiggle room early next season with Ryan Suter starting the season on injured reserve with an ankle injury, but at some point Suter will return and the Wild may face a cap crisis, which has led to rumors that defenseman Jared Spurgeon may be shopped.
These scenarios and others will play out over the next two weeks and could lead to opportunities that the Leafs can take advantage with over $14 Million in available cap space next season and only William Nylander to sign.
Once that window passes, the only opportunity for GM Kyle Dubas to upgrade the blueline for next season will be in free agency either by offering veterans a one-year contract or a training camp invite on a PTO.
This is something that the Leafs did last September just prior to training camp with Roman Polak and could do again with veterans like Dan Hamhuis, Kevin Bieksa and Tobias Enstrom still unsigned.
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