HabsWorld.net -- 

The Habs had seven players eligible to file for salary arbitration by Sunday’s deadline.  Overall, only one elected to do so, putting in the paperwork before the 5 PM limit.

Kirby Dach was the one who did while those who were eligible but chose not to were forwards Brett Berard, Jared Davidson, Sean Farrell, and Hunter McKown, along with defenceman Maksymilian Szuber and Arber Xhekaj.  Zach Bolduc, another restricted free agent, wasn’t eligible.

Dach’s filing should come as no surprise.  He’s one year away from unrestricted free agency so the worst-case scenario is that he goes to a hearing, gets his award, and heads to the open market next year.  That’s a small leverage card that his camp was widely expected to play.  He’ll be looking for a raise on his $4 million qualifying offer while the Habs will be trying to keep it as close to that as possible.  Speculatively, the likeliest outcome of the bad options still feels like a two-year or a three-year deal gets done at a price tag somewhere around that qualifying offer number.

It’s important to note that an arbitration filing doesn’t mean anything bad.  It doesn’t even mean talks aren’t progressing; it’s just a mechanism to ensure that a deal gets done sooner than later rather than being put on the back-burner.  Hearings are held between July 20th and August 4th with an award – should it actually get to the actual arbitration – coming a few days after the meeting.

Xhekaj not filing is a bit more noteworthy.  That should mean that a new contract is on the horizon, one that will check in higher than his $1.3 million qualifying offer.  As for the other five players, all of them are likely to land short-term deals at or near the league minimum salary at the NHL level; the only thing getting negotiated would be their AHL pay and any guaranteed money.  There usually aren’t many issues with those so some of those contracts should start to be finalized soon.