NHL Salary Arbitration: Which players have elected the process of settling RFA contracts by a third party?

Salary arbitration in the NHL is a process where a restricted free agent or a team can request a hearing to determine the player's salary for the upcoming season. Both sides have two weeks to negotiate before the scheduled hearing.

If no agreement is reached, an arbitration hearing takes place, where a neutral arbitrator considers the arguments presented by the player and the team.

However, arguments about the team's salary cap or other players' salaries are not allowed. Instead, the focus is on factors such as performance, injury history, length of service, leadership qualities, and contributions to the team.

The arbitrator's decision must be made within 48 hours of the hearing. If the team rejects the decision, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.

The player's salary cannot be lower than 85 percent of their previous year's salary, while they can request any amount. Salary arbitration is commonly used by teams to resolve salary disputes.

NHL Players' Association has declared that 22 players have chosen to undergo salary arbitration

• Morgan Barron (Winnipeg Jets)
• Will Borgen (Seattle Kraken)
• Noah Cates (Philadelphia Flyers)
• Ross Colton (Colorado Avalanche)
• Brandon Duhaime (Minnesota Wild)
• Vince Dunn (Seattle Kraken)
• Cale Fleury (Seattle Kraken)
• Trent Frederic (Boston Bruins)
• Filip Gustavsson (Minnesota Wild)
• Brett Howden (Vegas Golden Knights)
• Tanner Jeannot (Tampa Bay Lightning)
• Philipp Kurashev (Chicago Blackhawks)
• Jack McBain (Arizona Coyotes)
• Ryan McLeod (Edmonton Oilers)
• Ian Mitchell (Boston Bruins)
• Drew O’Connor (Pittsburgh Penguins)
• Ilya Samsonov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
• Brandon Scanlin (New York Rangers)
• Jeremy Swayman (Boston Bruins)
• Troy Terry (Anaheim Ducks)
• Alexei Toropchenko (St. Louis Blues)
• Gabriel Vilardi (Winnipeg Jets)

The second club-elected salary arbitration notification must be submitted by July 6 at 5 PM ET. The salary arbitration hearings are scheduled to take place between July 20 and August 4.

Carolina Hurricanes v Florida Panthers - Game Four

The NHL's salary cap for the 2023-24 season has been raised to $83.5 million

The NHL and NHL Players' Association jointly announced that the salary cap for the 2023-24 season will be $83.5 million, with a lower limit of $61.7 million.

This marks a slight increase from the previous season's cap of $82.5 million, which had remained relatively stagnant since the 2020-21 season. This was due to the players' ongoing repayment of a substantial escrow debt incurred during the 2019-20 season, when the league was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pause, hockey-related revenues remained flat while players continued to receive their salaries. As a result, the players' share of hockey-related revenue exceeded the designated 50 percent outlined in the NHL/NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement.

To address this imbalance, the League opted to spread out the approximately $1.5 billion debt over multiple years rather than collecting it all at once. Initially, the debt repayment was projected to be completed by or after the 2024-25 season, but strong revenue growth has allowed for an earlier repayment.