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Hearings have been scheduled for the 38 players who filed for salary arbitration in advance of the July 5th deadline.
Among them are four members of the Calgary Flames organization: Sam Bennett (July 27th), David Rittich (July 29th), Ryan Lomberg (August 1st), and Rinat Valiev (August 4th).
Bennett is coming off a respectable season where he scored at a 31 point pace while playing only a hair more than 13 minutes per game.
He also produced 5v5 points at the most efficient rate (1.57 per 60) since his rookie campaign with Mark Jankowski serving as his primary center, and James Neal as his 2nd most frequent opposite-side winger. The outputs were fine considering the playing circumstances.
Bennett may not break the bank in arbitration, but he wouldn't come for pennies either and the Flames would be stuck qualifying him at a higher price than whatever he'd get in a year's time. I think the likely outcome here is a two-year bridge in the ~$2.5-2.75 million range.
Rittich's representatives filed on his behalf for the second summer in a row. A year ago, he signed for $800K just a day prior to his hearing. It was a prove it and get rewarded later kind of contract.
Well, he proved it winning nearly 65% of his starts and posting an identical 5v5 save percentage to that of John Gibson, Frederik Andersen and Andrei Vasilevskiy – three elite goaltenders. Playing behind Calgary's defense helped, of course, but he's right to be looking for a big raise.
Once again, I expect arbitration to be avoided – I'd look for a two or three-year pact – but if GM Brad Treliving is playing hardball, Rittich's case is good enough to go to arb.
Lomberg set a new career high in AHL points per game and appeared in four games with the big club. Meanwhile, Valiev averaged more points per game than all but one AHL season and finished 2nd among Stockton defenders in points.
As much as anything, they're fighting for raises from the $70K and $80K they pulled in while playing in the minors this past season.
Of the bunch, I think Rittich is most likely to actually go through with his hearing but I still expect he'll be taken care of prior.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com and capfriendly.com
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