Article content
When it comes to salary arbitration in the National Hockey League, the happiest ending is always the one where both sides keep talking and come to an agreement before the case ever reaches a hearing.
In the case of promising young forward Ryan McLeod, that announcement was made tonight, just a couple of days ahead of McLeod’s pending Judgment Day of Aug 04.
Article content
Stick tap to Ryan Rishaug of TSN who had the major details about 25 minutes before the Oilers made it official.
McLeod set the process in motion by filing for arbitration in early July, at which moment it was guaranteed he would remain with the Oilers. But at what price? It’s another summer where cap space is very tight, a lesson McLeod himself learned the hard way a year ago. Then an RFA with no arb rights, he waited the entire summer without a contract, hoping against hope that Ken Holland might make some sort of trade to open up a smidge more cap space. Instead, McLeod signed a one-year extension for the precise figure of $798,000, which it turned out was the exact figure that allowed him (and others) to shoehorn onto the opening day roster with pocket change to spare.
That was seen by many including this observer as the player doing the team a solid, even as it was in his own interest to keep himself affordable. (An approach that doesn’t seem to have occurred to Raphael Lavoie.)
After sending McLeod to the minors early in the 2021-22 season not because he lost his job but because he was waiver-exempt, and after low-balling him on a team-friendly deal in 2022-23, GM Ken Holland surely had no intention of taking this all the way to arbitration. In such hearings, it is the team’s responsibility to explain why a player is worth a lower salary than he thinks he is. It can get ugly, or so I’m told.
Article content
Several items that surely player and organization can agree on at the fundamental level:
For now he projects as a 3C which is exactly what Oilers need. $2.1 million is a reasonable price for that player, assuming that McLeod continues to grow his game to become that player.
From this distance that’s a pretty safe bet.
More to come.
