The Edmonton Oilers learned that forward Ryan McLeod would be filing for arbitration on Wednesday as the deadline for RFAs approached and players who hadn’t signed deals yet were going to exercise their option as players with arbitration rights to potentially take the decision out of the GM’s and agent’s respective hands. It’s not a process teams and players love, but it’s often an essential bargaining chip when the two sides are stuck and can’t find a happy middle ground.
But, according to a few sources, the Oilers were prepared for this. In fact, they were not only prepared, they believe the process could drag out for a while — and they’re ok with that.
Arbitration Is Not Necessarily a Bad Thing
The good news when a player files for arbitration is that there will be no offer sheet and the player will likely be at camp. McLeod will have a contract either through an agreement with the Oilers or via an arbitrator sometime in the next few weeks. So too, McLeod filing for arbitration will trigger the second buyout window for the Oilers once he either signs or receives an arbitration award. Holland could then buy out anyone who was on their roster at the last trade deadline who has a $4 million or more cap hit — that being Jack Campbell (a highly unlikely scenario).
The bad news is that this could take some time and if this case goes to a hearing, there are bound to be some hurt feelings.
That said, the Oilers think they have a pretty good case to let this take its course and feel confident the player comes back and finds a way to sign a short-term deal and live to fight another day.
The Oilers Have Been Here Before And It Didn’t Pay Off
This isn’t the first time the Oilers have had the threat of arbitration create complications. In fact, last year both Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto settled prior to their arbitration dates. Unfortunately, both were arguably overpaid and now are no longer here. That’s not something the Oilers want to have happen with McLeod.
In an attempt to avoid paying too much and feeling the unnecessary crunch, Tom Gazzola of the Oil Stream podcast believes this may actually go to arbitration. He noted during Wednesday’s show “In discussions with people from the team, they kind of expected this.” He adds, “They knew that this would be a process, and ‘go the distance’ is the term that was used when I was told about the McLeod situation.” He went on to say that the team isn’t upset about the fact that the player has chosen to go this route and take advantage of his right to see this out. But, “You don’t want to say this is part of a plan, but they anticipated it,” Gazzola said.
The Oilers are actually prepared for this to take a while and potentially even creep into training camp.
Why Would They Let This Drag Out?
For the Oilers, every dollar matters. Even something as little as what might be $500K on McLeod’s contract, they need to push this in a direction that allows them to use their leverage to get the best deal. And, they believe they have a strong case and that letting an arbitrator decide this could be in their best interest, at least when it comes to dollars and cents.
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When the Oilers avoided arbitration with Puljujarvi and Yamamoto, they put themselves in a tough spot by giving the players more than they were probably worth. Making that mistake again could cause real problems. When asked what he believes the number might look like in an arbitration case, Gazzola said that McLeod doesn’t have much leverage or clout because his resume doesn’t favor his argument. Saying he doesn’t have a robust body of work, Gazzola figured $1.5 million.
Dustin Nielson read off his numbers and said McLeod only has 20 goals in 138 career games, along with only three goals in 32 playoff games. He said he didn’t see those as numbers that have the Oilers overly concerned. “For me, if you’re Ryan McLeod, you’re better to be on good terms and just sorta get a deal done here and know that eventually, as the cap goes up, if you can contribute at a higher level, which I still think he needs to…” and eventually get paid. Gazzola agreed and said McLeod’s numbers don’t command a huge salary. Gazzola added that the Oilers can go into a hearing with an arbitrator and point to a lot of things that McLeod either isn’t or hasn’t yet become.
Neither side wants that to happen. The best bet is for McLeod and his agent to realize this isn’t a fight he’s likely going to win. Take the deal offered, play your way into a bigger payday, and cash in on the back of a strong season.
