The Calgary Flames weren’t big players during draft weekend or July 1st in free agency, which bucks the trend from previous years.

Brad Treliving, GM of the Flames since the Spring of 2014, has made a big offseason move in each of his years at the helm of the Flames. This year’s relative quietness isn’t due to a lack of trying though. He was a hair away from trading Michael Frolik for Jason Zucker at the trade deadline, and just had a big trade centered around TJ Brodie and Nazem Kadri with the Toronto Maple Leafs fall through because Kadri refused to waive his no-trade clause – at least that’s what we think.

A trade involving Brodie and/or Frolik is still probably coming though, primarily because of the Flames’ cap crunch and a long list of RFAs left to sign. Among them is, of course, Matthew Tkachuk, and the two sides are undoubtedly working hard to get a deal done as soon as possible. All signs point to his negotiation taking a bit of time, and from experience with Johnny Gaudreau we know the Tkachuk deal could go as late as into training camp, but there are other restricted free agents that can’t wait that long.

A look at the Calgary Flames Arbitration Picture

This season, there are Outside of Tkachuk, there are four RFAs who are eligible for, and filed for arbitration. The official arbitration schedule has been released by the NHLPA.

Brad Treliving has his hands full this offseason with plenty of contracts to negotiate, but he’s no stranger to dealing with arbitration eligible players. Over his time as GM, he’s settled 10 arbitration eligible cases, with only two actually making it to the arbitration hearing phase.

To date, here is Treliving’s RFA arbitration history. We’ll be updating the list as the cases get settled this summer.

2014 Arbitration Cases

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 96 11 23 34 92 160 42 13:59 Previous Season 80 10 18 28 80 129 30 14:16

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 2 years $2.55M $1.275M Pre-arbitration $650k

2015 Arbitration Cases

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 199 22 31 53 221 505 201 12:17 Previous Season 78 16 18 34 104 264 82 14:01

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 3 years $6.6M $2.2M Post-arbitration $775k

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 138 17 31 48 127 211 39 13:28 Previous Season 57 6 13 19 62 101 24 14:28

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 1 year $900k $900k Pre-arbitration $600k

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 60 12 12 24 89 60 30 14:30 Previous Season 60 12 12 24 89 60 30 14:30

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 1 year $975k $975k Pre-arbitration $925k

2016 Arbitration Cases

None

2017 Arbitration Cases

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 173 21 27 48 262 427 59 11:50 Previous Season 76 15 10 35 106 149 26 11:34

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 2 years $3.5M $1.75M Pre-arbitration $900k

2018

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 99 5 16 21 262 260 63 10:58 Previous Season 59 4 9 13 68 154 32 11:32

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 1 year $850k $850k Pre-arbitration $650k

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 73 17 8 25 118 36 51 13:19 Previous Season 72 17 8 25 118 35 51 13:21

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 2 years $3.35M $1.675M Pre-arbitration $925k

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 101 2 9 11 101 61 65 13:16 Previous Season 71 2 6 8 73 45 49 12:59

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 1 year $900k $900k Post-arbitration $650k

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 374 64 124 188 720 466 176 17:09 Previous Season 81 16 28 44 153 98 41 17:54

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 6 years $29.1M $4.85M Pre-arbitration $2.7M

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP GS Record GAA SV% SHO MIN QS Career 22 16 8-6-3 2.92 0.904 0 1028 10 Previous Season 21 16 8-6-3 2.92 0.904 0 1008 10

Resulting Contract

Term Total Value AAV Signing Timeline Previous Salary 1 year $800k $800k Pre-arbitration $725k

Track Record

As we can see from the ten cases above, Treliving has only had two of those players actually reach arbitration: Bouma and Kulak. The rest were settled before the arbitration hearing took place, which speaks to Treliving’s ability to handle RFAs. Of course interestingly enough, both of those players that made it to arbitration are no longer with the team.

2019 Arbitration Cases

As previously mentioned, there are four players that are currently scheduled for an arbitration hearing at this point in time.

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 312 55 61 116 531 498 139 14:29 Previous Season 71 13 14 27 115 121 27 13:17

Resulting Contract

TBD. Arbitration hearing date: July 27, 2019.

Previous Salary: $1.95M

David Rittich

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP GS Record GAA SV% SHO MIN QS Career 67 58 35-15-8 2.70 0.909 1 3531 36 Previous Season 42 42 27-9-5 2.61 0.911 1 2503 26

Resulting Contract

TBD. Arbitration hearing date: July 29, 2019.

Previous Salary: $800k

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 11 0 1 1 6 23 1 6:31 Previous Season 4 0 0 0 0 12 0 6:59

Resulting Contract

TBD. Arbitration hearing date: August 1, 2019.

Previous Salary: $710k

Career stats to arbitration date

Period GP G A PTS SH HT BK ATOI Career 12 0 0 0 9 9 6 12:11 Previous Season 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 11:49

Resulting Contract

TBD. Arbitration hearing date: August 4, 2019.

Previous Salary: $650k

Looking ahead

If history is any indication, it would be safe to assume that there is a strong chance these cases don’t make it to their hearings. Tkachuk’s contract provides an interesting layer of drama this year, but the team would most likely want to get all of these contracts signed as soon as possible.

Valiev and Lomberg will be easy to get signed, but Bennett and Rittich could pose much more interesting negotiations. Treliving’s history speaks for itself, which should provide confidence for the upcoming negotiations. One way or another, all five players will be under contract after the August long weekend. The only question will be for how much and how long?

What do you think about the upcoming arbitration hearings? Let us know in the comments below.