The National Hockey League Players' Association announced that 22 players have elected salary arbitration, and Chicago Blackhawks pending unrestricted free-agent forward Philipp Kurashev was one of them.
Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT was the deadline to file for arbitration, and Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson fully expected Kurashev to do so, even though he remains hopeful that a deal will get done before it even gets to that point.
"I’m optimistic we’ll get something ironed out," Davidson said. "The deadline is today for him to file for arbitration, so I fully expect him to file. That’s the responsible thing for them to do on their end, but I’m hoping to get a deal done in short order. I don’t have a timeline on it. I’m not too sure. But that’s what the arbitration process is there for and I’m sure we’ll get something done at some point."
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Kurashev, 23, set a career-high in goals (nine), assists (16), points (25) and games played (70) this past season with the Blackhawks before being shut down for the final few weeks with a shoulder injury. He also averaged 17:25 of ice time, which was a substantial improvement from his 12:51 the previous campaign.
Kurashev appears to be the last real order of business for the summer, with Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson saying on Wednesday that the roster is "very close to being done." He's coming off a one-year contract at a cap hit of $750,000, and his qualifying offer was $787,500.
I would be very surprised if Kurashev's case actually got to arbitration. I'm sure the two sides will continue to hammer away at it, but, historically, talks tend to pick up as the arbitration date gets closer because it provides a deadline of some sort. A one- or two-year contract in the $1.5-$2.5 million range seems like the most likely outcome for Kurashev and the Blackhawks.