Winnipeg will retain young defenceman for at least another season at $5.5M
Arbitrator splits difference in Trouba’s new one-year deal
The arbitrator has made his ruling and the Jacob Trouba situation is another significant step closer to resolution, at least for the short term.
After both sides had an opportunity to present their respective cases in player-elected arbitration in Toronto on Friday, a one-year award of $5.5 million was handed out on Sunday afternoon.
Because the player elected arbitration and the award was more than $4.22 million, the Jets have 48 hours to decide if they want to accept the award — but that’s simply a formality at this point.
The Jets have some salary-cap challenges and a few more restricted free agents to sign, including Trouba’s frequent defence partner Josh Morrissey, but this doesn’t appear to be one of those rare times when a team walks away from the award and allows the player to become an unrestricted free agent.
As for Trouba, he would still need to sign the contract but that looks like a formality as well.
Trouba, 24, had asked for $7 million while the Jets, who chose a one-year award instead of two, countered with an offer of $4 million.
Ultimately, the arbitrator chose to split the difference.
Sunday’s decision should bring a resolution in the short term, but there are still several unanswered questions remaining relating to where things go from here.
For the Jets, the hope would be that Trouba is comfortable with the decision and goes out and plays his best hockey, knowing the mobile defenceman is still looking to cash in on a long-term deal.
Trouba, who had three goals and 24 points in 55 games last season, played some of the best hockey of his career after missing the first 15 games of the 2016-17 after a contract stalemate.
Although Trouba was merely exercising his rights under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, the fact the Jets were unable to come to a longer-term deal with the 2012 first-round pick leads some to believe this marriage is bound to end in a divorce, eventually.
The news that the Minnesota Wild came to an agreement on Saturday with defenceman Matt Dumba (who was a restricted free agent as well) on a five-year deal worth $30 million ($6 million average annual value) led some to believe that could be another possible comparable on what Trouba might earn on a longer deal.
However, there’s no way of really knowing if Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff or Trouba’s agent Kurt Overhardt got close to a long-term deal during the latest round of negotiations.
Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, the two sides can’t begin discussions on a contract extension before Jan. 1 of 2019.
None of Jets Cheveldayoff, Overhardt or Trouba were available for comment on Sunday.
By going to arbitration and the Jets choosing a one-year term, Trouba will be only one year away from unrestricted free agency once this deal is complete.
It’s possible Trouba wants to at least listen to what he might get on the open market in the summer of 2020, so that might prevent him from considering a long-term deal, either in January or next offseason.
Could Trouba, who just completed a two-year bridge deal worth $6 million (and carried an average annual value of $3 million) end up asking for a trade at some point if he’s not interested in sticking around long term?
Of course, that’s a possibility. It happened two years ago and it could happen again.
Only the player and his camp know for sure.
But that’s not a foregone conclusion at this point either.
Trouba is getting a significant raise and his role on the top pairing is a valuable one.
If the Jets get to a point where they feel Trouba isn’t interested in a longer-term deal, Cheveldayoff could try to make a move in the coming months.
Or he may choose to hold firm until at least next summer, even if some folks believe Trouba’s trade value would be higher this offseason then next.
That could be true in theory, but if Trouba can’t sign an extension with the Jets or the team that trades for him, that club would be face with the same challenge the Jets face right now.
With that in mind, there’s no guarantee the value in a deal would be higher right now than it would next summer.
As mentioned previously, the Jets window to win the Stanley Cup appears to be widest right now, so keeping Trouba in the fold for at least this coming season makes the most sense.
The Jets aren’t just sitting around and waiting, since there is some other important business to take care of.
Among the remaining restricted free agents, forward Brandon Tanev has an arbitration hearing slated for July 25 and forward Marko Dano rounds out the potential cases to be heard on July 30, provided deals aren’t reached before those times.
With the expectation being that Trouba is on the books for $5.5 million next season, the Jets project to have committed $66.5 million to 18 players on the 23man roster.
When considering the Jets are likely to leave roughly $4 million aside for potential entry-level bonuses, that leaves them just under $9 million to spend before hitting the ceiling.