Both Alex Killorn and Vladislav Namestnikov opted to file for arbitration ahead of Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline.

The pair of restricted free agents are now guaranteed to be under contract prior to the start of training camp prior to the start of the 2016-17 season.

Killorn is coming off a season in which he had a salary cap hit of $2.5 million (actual salary was $2.7 million) while Namestnikov was on a one-year deal with a salary of $874,125.

And just to get this out of the way as quick as possible, Nikita Kucherov does not have arbitration rights, so he's not eligible to file for arbitration. So before anybody asks ;-)

To put in hopefully in the simplest terms, arbitration is like a court case. The two sides make their cases and argue in front of an independent arbitrator who listens to both sides and then comes back with a ruling on a new contract. Since the players opted to file for arbitration, the team can elect for either a one-year or a two-year contract award. But the arbitrator will decided on what the salary will be, within a submitted range.

The arbitrators ruling is binding and both sides must abide by the decision.

Dates for hearings this year - a total of 24 players filed for arbitration - are scheduled to take place between July 20 and August 4. Each case will be given a date to be announced.

UPDATE on July 11: Killorn's hearing is scheduled for July 20 while Namestnikov is scheduled for his hearing on July 29. All arbitration hearings will take place in Toronto.

In the history of hockey arbitration, however, cases rarely actually reach that point. Most cases are often settled before the case ever gets argued. It can be a nasty process with the team essentially having to point out a player's faults and shortcomings in front of the arbitrator.

Now, as many have already asked me, what does this all mean?

Not a whole lot, to be honest, at least in the short term.

By filing for arbitration it does not necessarily mean the two sides are far apart in negotiations. But what it does is essentially put a deadline on negotiations because once the ruling is made, a new deal can not be reached. This also means that any player who elects arbitration is guaranteed to be under contract before the start of the season.

It also means that as restricted free agents, they are no longer eligible to be issued an offer sheet from another team, which in this case protects the Lightning from that scenario. (And just to reiterate, this has no bearing on Nikita Kucherov, who is still eligible to sign an offer sheet)

Both sides will continue to work on negotiating a new deal, and this generally is what happens. Both sides are aware of the comparables and the parameters of a new deal. That's a big reason why finding common ground is not difficult and so few cases are actually decided through arbitration.

So there is no need to be overly concerned with the arbitration process. In my 15 years of covering the Lightning I can only think of one player who made it all the way through the arbitration process from beginning to end and that was Cory Stillman. At the time Tampa Bay was not willing to meet the high prices Stillman was awarded and opted for the walk-away option (Stillman was a top scorer for the 2004 Stanley Cup winning team) which made Stillman an free agent.

EDIT: The walk-away option is only available if the awarded contract is about $3.5 million. But there is another option at a team's disposal regarding a higher than requested salary award - a second buy out window. Any team that has a player elect arbitration has an additional buyout period beyond the window that closed on June 30.

The Lightning have already elected to buy out the remaining two years on Matt Carle's contract, which offers up a salary cap savings in the neighborhood of $3.7 million for the next two years. Should Tampa Bay decide that it wants to utilize a second buyout, they now have that option.

So I hope I was able to answer as many questions as possible as to what arbitration means and how it affects both parties involved.

And I'll say once again, this has no bearing on Nikita Kucherov, who has not acquired the necessary experience to gain arbitration rights as he is coming out of his entry level contract. The two sides in this case will continue to negotiate toward reaching a new contract for Kucherov.

Hope this helped!

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