Taking Stone to arbitration a risky strategy for Senators
Creating ill will with core player could be a problem
In general, salary arbitration is a valuable tool for NHL teams and players.
Or at least, with middle-of-theroad players, the threat of arbitration, where teams can win or lose big and where a player’s warts are often exposed by his employer, can be an exercise in helping the sides find a suitable salary compromise.
Having said all that, though, it’s a risky strategy to take with star players.
In the case of Mark Stone and Friday’s scheduled hearing, it’s an approach the Senators should avoid at all costs (Stone is asking for US$9 million per season, with the Senators countering at $5 million).
It’s one thing to go the distance with defenceman Cody Ceci — a ruling on Wednesday’s arbitration hearing between Ceci and the Senators will likely come down on Friday — who clearly isn’t worth the $6 million he was asking for.
Ceci does have a value to the Senators as a big-minutes man on a team with limited depth on the blue-line, but he’s not a franchise building block. Stone is.
Regardless of what an arbitrator could rule — $7 million does seem about right — it’s dangerous territory for the club. Unless the Senators can reach a pre-hearing contract with Stone, he would stand to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2018-19 season, joining Matt Duchene and Erik Karlsson in that regard.
Karlsson already has one skate out of the dressing room door, of course, but if Stone’s future is up in the air, how anxious will Duchene be to sign an extension with the Senators? A first-line centre and a first-line right-winger, each in the final year of his contract on a team that will likely be treading water just to stay competitive?
It’s a recipe for uncertainty, something the Senators are desperately trying to skate away from.
We recognize that owner Eugene Melnyk is in a cost-cutting frenzy that severely hinders general manager Pierre Dorion’s freedom to do anything, but if there’s one player who should be signed to a long-term extension at or above fair market value, it’s Stone. He’s unquestionably the Senators’ top forward, long seen as the captain if and when Karlsson is traded away.
Once Karlsson is gone, Stone will become the club’s best player.
He’s the ideal role model to teach the organization’s wave of young forward prospects how to play effectively on both sides of the puck, turning defence into offence with smart positioning and a slick stick.
Stone might also be able to offer a word about the value of patience and drive, having put in his minorleague time and dramatically improving his skating after originally being drafted in the sixth round. It’s also worth pointing out that Stone has been a relative bargain, just finishing up a three-year deal that averaged $3.5 million per season, serving as one of the league’s top right-wingers in that time.
For the Senators to argue their case for a $5-million salary — a lowball offer in a world where Washington’s Tom Wilson just signed a six-year, $31-million deal — somebody is going to have to utter some negatives across the table.
A sour Stone might not be inclined to hang around the Canadian Tire Centre long-term.
At this so fragile point in their history, the Senators can’t afford to lose another core player.