Four Kings file for arbitration

Restricted free agents Trevor Lewis, Alec Martinez, Jake Muzzin and Jordan Nolan were among the 21 NHL players that filed for salary arbitration on Wednesday.

Teams are also allowed to request arbitration with players prior to 2:00 p.m. PDT Thursday, provided the player made a minimum of 1.75 million dollars last season. That stipulation won’t affect the Kings.

Per Article 12.9 of the CBA, the Kings have the right to elect for a one or two-year contract in arbitration:

(c) Election of Term.
The party against whom a salary arbitration election was filed (i.e., the Club in Player-elected salary arbitration and the Player in Club-elected salary arbitration) shall elect in its brief whether the salary arbitration award shall be for a one or two-year SPC. Failure to make such an election shall be deemed to constitute an election for a one-year SPC.

SPC = Standard Player’s Contract.

At some point between July 22 and August 6, if the Kings and the players above are unable to reach an agreement on a new contract, this will happen:

(n) Salary Arbitration Decision.
Each salary arbitration decision must be issued by e-mail to each of the parties simultaneously within forty-eight (48) hours of the close of the hearing.
(ii) The decision of the Salary Arbitrator shall establish:
(A) the term of the SPC, based upon the Player’s or Club’s election of a one or two year SPC, as set forth in its brief and as consistent with this Article;
(B) the Paragraph 1 NHL Salary to be paid to the Player by the Club for the season(s) in respect to which the salary arbitration is conducted;
(C) the inclusion or otherwise of a Minor League clause (or clauses) and the amount of Paragraph 1 Minor League Salary to be paid under each of the season(s) in respect to which the salary arbitration is requested;
(D) a brief statement of the reasons for the decision, including
identification of any comparable(s) relied on.

If you have time to kill, you can read more about Article 12, which begins on page 57 of this CBA PDF. McSorley’s Stick and Winging It In Motown also do a good job of explaining the CBA.

Don’t be surprised if any combination of Lewis, Martinez, Muzzin and Nolan re-signs soon, though keep in mind the team’s budgetary inflexibility as the salary cap drops to 64.3 million dollars. According to CapGeek.com, the Kings have allotted all but 5.2 million dollars to 19 players. In addition to the players who filed for arbitration, Dustin Penner is a UFA and Kyle Clifford’s new contract is going to gravitate to the high end of the scale of all Los Angeles RFAs.

Really, it’s hard to imagine the Kings having enough cap space to re-sign Penner – or any free agent that commands anything much more than a very low seven-figure cap hit.

In 2012-13, Nolan ($531,667) and Clifford ($870,000) were coming off of entry level contracts. Alec Martinez ($737,500) and Trevor Lewis ($725,000) were coming off two-year contracts, while Muzzin ($577,500) signed for one year in July, 2012. All figures are provided by CapGeek.

Also filing for arbitration:
Detroit – Brendan Smith
Edmonton – Sam Gagner
Montreal – Ryan White
Nashville – Nick Spaling
New York Islanders – Josh Bailey
New York Rangers – Mats Zuccarello
Ottawa – Eric Condra
Pittsburgh – Robert Bortuzzo
St. Louis – Chris Stewart
Toronto – Mark Fraser, Carl Gunnarsson
Vancouver – Dale Weise
Winnipeg – Zach Bogosian, Bryan Little, Paul Postma, Eric Tangradi, Blake Wheeler