Revisiting the William Karlsson and Mark Stone Arbitration Situation

Courtesy of The Ottawa Sun

NHL

Many Significant Signings for the Five RFAs who Were Scheduled to Have hearings with an Arbitrator.

In my article published August 2, I took a deep dive into the remaining five Restricted Free Agents to predict what each would receive had they all met with an Arbitrator. During the past week, three of the five avoided arbitration with an 11th-hour deal while Gemel Smith and Cody Ceci met with their arbitrators.

Let’s take a look at what each player signed for and how this affects their team’s salary situation for this upcoming season.

Gemel Smith: Dallas Stars

Gemel Smith did attend his hearing and received a nice little bump in his salary from $650,000 to $720,000. In my prediction article, I predicted that Smith would get a bump, but only to $700,000. 0-for-1.

This contract does not affect Dallas’s salary cap situation. After the signing, the Stars have a projected $5,350,001 in salary cap space, per CapFriendly. With the cap space, this makes Dallas perfect candidates for a rental player at the NHL Trade Deadline this season, that is if the Stars do not make any more moves prior or during the 2018-19 season.

Patrik Nemeth: Colorado Avalanche

Patrik Nemeth avoided arbitration by signing a one year deal worth $2.5 million. In Thursday’s article, I projected that Nemeth would walk into next season with a cap hit of $1.2 million. 0-for-2.

This contract puts Nemeth 4th on the list of most expensive defensemen for Colorado. The Avalanche will most likely use Nemeth as a second pair defenseman for the upcoming season. According to CapFriendly, at this moment, Colorado has $12,181,905 in projected cap space for the 102nd NHL season. With this much in cap space, I do not expect Colorado to be a big Cup Contender.

Cody Ceci: Ottawa Senators

Cody Ceci brings us to our final stop at the “players who met with the arbitrators” junction. Ceci was awarded a $4.3 million contract by his arbitrator. Once again my predictions fail me as I fall to 0-for-3. Although I was only off by $1.2 million.

We will get into the salary cap ramifications in just a minute once we get to the Mark Stone deal. According to the tweet from SportsNet’s Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC), Ottawa offered $3.35 million while Ceci asked for $6 million.

Now to the other Senator…

Mark Stone: Ottawa Senators

Mark Stone and the Ottawa Senators avoided arbitration by agreeing on a deal for $7.35 million over the next season. This is big for both sides: Stone because he becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent at the end of the season, and the Senators because they saved big compared to what Stone was asking for. I was way off in my prediction for Stone. 0-for-4.

Back to what Stone was asking for. According to Elliotte Friedman, Mark Stone asked for $9 million and the Senators offered $5 million

[insert tweet] https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1024644355804385280

The discount really helps Ottawa because the lower salary

1) it helps the salary cap situation

2) it makes it easier for the Senators to move Stone at the Deadline or before as a rental player if he is not willing to sign a long-term extension after January 1, 2019.

The projected salary cap for the Ottawa Senators is set at $6,036,667 as of right now, and could get bigger if they decide to move Erik Karlsson before the season’s start.

William Karlsson: Vegas Golden Knights

The final player on the list of five is William Karlsson. Vegas and Karlsson signed a one year deal worth $5.25 million. After putting up 43 goals, William Karlsson was due for a high raise and the Golden Knights signed the check. My final tally on the prediction list is at 0-for-5.

According to Chris Johnston, Vegas offered $3.5 million, and Karlsson asked for $6.5 million. The two parties met just above the middle mark and signed the deal to make it official and avoid arbitration.

This deal leaves the Vegas Golden Knights with $8,687,500 in projected cap space, which does not keep them out of the Erik Karlsson sweepstakes. I would say that with this much space, it may not be possible that the Golden Knights are a contender for the Stanley Cup but after watching last season play out, I am sure they will surprise again.

In conclusion, I guess it is best that teams and players avoid arbitration. It seems there is a higher trust level in the organization when done correctly. A story line to look out for this coming season is Ottawa’s situation with Mark Stone. He had high value in mind but went lower to avoid arbitration and possibly receive an even lower amount of cash.

Around The NHL

• According to our very own Joshua Rey, the Anaheim Duck have locked up John Gibson to an eight year deal. Read that article here.
• According to Jessica Starr, Tom Wilson has decided to stay in Washington for six years. You can check that out here.
• From nhl.com, check out the Top-10 players at Summer Showcase right here.