When negotiating restricted free agent deals, NHL general managers like to take care of low-hanging fruit first. In the case of the Detroit Red Wings and the continuation of their off-season, that came in the form of defenseman Xavier Ouellet and the two-year contract worth $1.25 million per season he signed to start the week.

Nice and easy.

Normally, the move down the restricted free agency checklist would go to the guy with arbitration rights next. That would be Tomas Tatar. But this year might be different.

The Tatar camp has until Wednesday to file for arbitration, something that hadn’t happened yet as of Monday, but will most likely get done, and then the clock starts ticking on negotiations to sign him to an extension.

The Red Wings other major RFA, Andreas Athanasiou, doesn’t have arbitration rights, so Detroit management can take all summer to get that deal done if it wants. There’s no deadline, artificial or otherwise, looming on Athanasiou. Usually, that’s a recipe for a delay, but the simplicity of that deal might actually help get it done before Tatar.

Athanasiou’s agent Darren Ferris is expected to pick negotiations back up with Red Wings GM Ken Holland on Wednesday, continuing talks that have gone well thus far.

“Usually these guys, Group 2 without arbitration rights, take a little while,” Ferris said on Monday. “We’ve been talking, which is a good thing.”

The expectation for this deal is that it’s a short one.

Athanasiou is still establishing himself as an NHL regular so his camp doesn’t have much appetite to lock him in at a low-average salary on a long-term deal.

If it’s a two-year bridge deal, the best comparable may be Canucks forward Sven Baertschi, who signed a two-year deal last summer with an annual cap hit of $1.85 million. When he signed, he was one-year older than Athanasiou and was coming off a 15-goal season, compared to the 18 goals Athanasiou scored this season, so it might be a touch low. Matt Cane’s projections have Athanasiou at $1.9 million, so we’re right in the ballpark.

Typically, teams like to buy at least one year of arbitration rights when doing the bridge contract but it comes with a premium. The Red Wings have salary cap juggling to do, so you can’t rule out a one-year deal, which would have to appeal to the Athanasiou camp. He can drive up his value going into an arbitration year while the Red Wings would get a young player motivated to pump up his value. There’s appeal for both sides there.

Either way, there’s a deal to be struck and it shouldn’t be too painful.

The Tatar contract could prove a bit trickier. He’s one year removed from hitting unrestricted free agency and there’s a big difference between buying out arbitration years and UFA years.

Tatar is coming off a 25-goal season and would be a rarity in unrestricted free agency because he wouldn’t be a forward in his 30s trying to get one last deal. He’d hit the market at 27 years old, still young enough that NHL general managers could feel good about offering term to a player who already has three 20-plus goal seasons under his belt.

There really wasn’t a player like that on the market this season. Last year, forward Mikkel Boedker hit the market at 26 years old and got a four-year deal with the Sharks worth $4 million per season. He had never cracked 20 goals in his career and still hasn’t.

The price for Tatar on a long-term deal is going to be north of that. The Red Wings are willing to go four or five years on Tatar, but finding a salary that makes sense for both sides will be the challenge.

The best comparable for Tatar may be Senators forward Mike Hoffman, who avoided arbitration last year with Ottawa by signing a four-year contract worth $20.75 million ($5.185 million AAV) after putting up 56 goals in the previous two seasons combined before signing. Like Tatar is now, Hoffman was 26 years old when he signed.

Cane’s projection on Tatar comes in at $4.3 million, which wouldn’t get it done on a long-term deal. Tatar is represented by Ritch Winter, who isn’t one to give teams too many breaks in this spot, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s asking for something that begins with a baseline of $6 million annually.

There’s still work to be done on that front. There’s also still plenty of time to pull it off.