- Fourteen RFAs have arbitration hearing dates set from July 20 to August 1
- Trevor Zegras, Jason Robertson and Jamie Drysdale headline the group
- Read below for the full schedule and what happens next
The NHL’s arbitration season now has a schedule.
Fourteen restricted free agents have hearing dates spread between July 20 and August 1, and the list carries a few names worth watching. Trevor Zegras and Jason Robertson are the headliners, with Jamie Drysdale and Cole Perfetti first up on July 20.
Fifteen players filed before the deadline earlier this month, per PuckPedia. Ottawa forward Xavier Bourgault has already signed, which trimmed the hearing list to 14.
Here’s the group that filed:
Drysdale and Zegras filed together in Philadelphia, and they bookend the early part of the calendar. Drysdale and Perfetti open July 20, Zegras goes July 22, and Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves is set for July 23.
Robertson and Connor McMichael both drew July 25 dates. The rest fill in from there: Cole Sillinger on July 27, Nicholas Robertson on July 28, then Braden Schneider and Ronan Seeley on July 29.
Kirby Dach and Alex Jefferies are up July 30, and the calendar closes August 1 with Peyton Krebs and goalie Akira Schmid.
Robertson is the biggest name of the bunch. He’s coming off a 45-goal, 96-point season, and his future in Dallas has been a summer-long talking point. We covered how the Penguins would welcome a Robertson trade, and an open arbitration case only turns up the heat on sorting his situation out.
Take a look at the season Robertson is about to argue in front of an arbitrator:
None of these dates are set in stone. Teams and players can strike a deal right up until a case starts, and most of them do. The hearings just hand both sides a deadline to work against.
