Dallas Stars: Arbitration Hearings Scheduled With Remaining Two Players

The arbitration hearing period is quickly approaching and the Dallas Stars have plenty of work to do. Their two remaining players involved in arbitration have meetings scheduled in the coming weeks. That gives them time to work, but they need to act fast.

It’s been a while since the Dallas Stars have dealt with an arbitration case.

In the summer of 2014, Antoine Roussel and Cameron Gaunce both filed for arbitration with Dallas. But GM Jim Nill found a way to negotiate new contracts with both restricted free agents before their scheduled meetings.

Since then, all has been quiet on the arbitration front for the Stars. Nill is quick to qualify and extend his RFAs with each passing offseason. He gets his future pieces locked down and manages his cap space well.

But this offseason looks different. It’s July 14 and the Dallas Stars still have three restricted free agents in need of new contracts. Dillon Heatherington, Mattias Janmark, and Gemel Smith were all qualified by Dallas just before July 1, but have yet to sign new deals.

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And on July 5, three of their RFAs filed for arbitration. Heatherington is unable to do so due to his lack of required professional experience.

But Shore, Janmark, and Smith met the necessary requirements to file for arbitration and exercised their player right.

If you are still lost on the details or procession of arbitration, here’s a handy guide and a look at the Stars’ case specifically for this summer.

On Thursday afternoon, the NHL announced the official dates for each of the 38 arbitration cases that remained. For the Dallas Stars, Shore was set to start things off on July 20. But on Friday afternoon, the Stars came to terms with the young forward on a two-year deal.

With that being said, the team only has two RFAs left to meet with. Smith is scheduled to get things started for the Stars on August 1 and Janmark will round it all out on August 3.

So, as you can see, the Stars have about two and a half weeks separating them from the hearings. And considering Nill has never actually had to go to arbitration, he’s likely trying to avoid it and get things settled ahead of time.

And there’s a good chance that he will avoid it altogether once again. If anything, locking down Shore one week ahead of his meeting was a promising step in that direction.

As stated above, Nill tries to avoid arbitration at all costs. It’s simply easier and better to handle things in-house and keep that power within.

So will he get the other two contracts done and once again avoid arbitration hearings altogether? It all depends on how well negotiations go and could be different for both players.

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Janmark is coming off of his best NHL season to date, though there are only two to analyze. But after spending the entire 2016-17 season recovering from a threatening knee injury, he came back and posted four more goals (15 to 19) and five more points (29 to 34) when compared to his rookie season. He also skated in all but one game and averaged almost three more minutes on the ice per game.

The 25-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Dallas Stars at the end of the 2016-17 season considering he was nearing RFA status. Even though he hadn’t played for the entire season, his recovery looked promising and his solid rookie year stats backed up re-signing him.

This coming year, however, Janmark will be looking to make more than last year’s $700K AAV after delivering a sophomore sophomore season. And on top of that, he will likely be expecting at least two or three years of term. A three-year deal worth $2.5 million or so might do the trick, but that’s just a guess.

And then you have Gemel Smith. At age 24, he’s yet to get a full-blown chance at the NHL level. But in the time he’s been given, he hasn’t missed a beat. After scoring three goals and tallying six points in 17 games in 2016-17, Smith earned himself a more extensive role in 2017-18.

Under Ken Hitchcock, he only skated in 46 games and averaged 9:26 on the ice (over four minutes less than his rookie season total). But he still put up six goals and 11 points along with a +5 rating.

Considering he still has a relatively high ceiling, a two-year deal worth somewhere in the $1.5 million range seems fair. Smith made $650K on his one-year contract last season. If Dallas is planning on using him more consistently at the NHL level next season, he’s definitely earned it.

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Two more potential arbitration hearings and one other RFA case is all that stands between the Dallas Stars and being squared away for the 2018-19 season. Let’s see how Nill handles it in the coming weeks.