Dallas Stars: Gemel Smith Awarded One-Way Contract in Arbitration

Dallas Stars forward Gemel Smith was the last hold-out of this year’s RFA class, but he’s been awarded a one-year, one-way contract in arbitration worth $720,000.

Earlier this week, it came out that Smith was seeking a one-way contract while the Dallas Stars were offering a two-way deal.

Smith split last season between being a healthy scratch and bottom six minutes. On the scoresheet, he did alright with 6 goals and 11 points. He had good possession numbers in his limited ice time. At even strength, he had a 53.9 Corsi for percentage and a 3.3 relative Corsi.

He also played 17 games during the 2016-17 campaign, during which he received quite a bit more ice time than in 2017-18 (13:35 average vs 9:26). Despite the lower ice time, his analytics numbers improved almost across the board this past season.

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The money is lower than what Smith requested, but he’ll likely be more than fine with that considering the contract is one-way. A one-way deal guarantees that he makes that money no matter where he plays, so even if he does get sent down to Austin during the season, he’ll still collect his full NHL salary.

He spent the entire season in the NHL last year, though he obviously only played in half the games, but the Stars seeking a two-way deal this year shows that they want flexibility with him. They gave Jason Dickinson and Remi Elie one-way extensions this summer, but held out on doing the same for Smith until the arbitrator decided for them.

Arbitration isn’t a common thing for the Stars under Jim Nill’s tenure and actually letting an arbitrator make a decision is rare league-wide, with only a handful having a final ruling each off-season. Usually, there will be a big group filing for arbitration, but they’ll mostly sign deals before their hearings. For those that go to hearings, there’s still a chance to sign before the ruling. That’s what happened during the last case the Stars had that went to a hearing. Antoine Roussel had his hearing in 2014, but Roussel and Nill signed a new contract before the decision was finalized from the arbitrator.

In letting an arbitrator make the final decision, something that hasn’t happened to a Stars player since Antti Miettinen eleven years ago, the general manager is allowing someone else to dictate their cap. In a case like Smith’s or Miettinen’s, where the contract was under $1M, that isn’t as big of a concern.

In the case of the Senators today, it can make a big impact, where the arbitrator awarded Cody Ceci $4.3M. They also had Mark Stone sign a one-year deal for $7.35M this morning before his hearing, but he was asking for $9M. With contracts that size, the GM is giving up a lot of power in letting it go to a ruling, but for Smith’s deal, they weren’t risking that much.

Smith, like the other RFAs on one-year deals next year, has his work cut out for him if he wants to get paid next summer. He didn’t do poorly last season, but he’ll need to step up his game if he hopes from a bigger contract when this one expires.