News came down a few minutes ago that Nashville Predators forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Austin Watson have filed for player-elected arbitration.
The deadline to file was 5 PM today.
The good news? Ryan Johansen did not.
Viktor Arvidsson and Austin Watson filed for player-elected arbitration. Ryan Johansen didn’t.
— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) July 5, 2017
This tells us a couple things. One, this probably means a deal with Johansen is coming, as I would doubt there is much difference between the camps on cost. Having said that, we have seen Johansen contract talks go well into October before, so we could also end up waiting a while.
Two, this probably means discussions between the Predators and Arvidsson are considerably off base. Disappointing, but not shocking, considering how “out of the blue” Arvy’s production was this year.
As for Austin Watson, I suppose he thinks he is worth more than 105% of the $600K or so he was making, and he is probably right. Arbitration might be a good result for the Predators as far as Watson goes, as I doubt he will be too expensive either way.
Side note: Marek Mazanec also filed for arbitration, which is strange. Not sure what that means.
So now what?
Salary Arbitration hearings will be held in Toronto from July 20 to Aug. 4, 2017.
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) July 5, 2017
So sometime in early August, we should find out the salaries for these two key contributors to the Predators.
And with arbitration looming for Arvy and Watty, now we wait to see what happens with Johansen.