7/12/18 | The NHLPA has announced that Vesey is scheduled to have his hearing on 7/30, Brady Skjei on 7/31, Kevin Hayes on 8/2 and Ryan Spooner on 8/4.
7/5/18 | 5:56PM: The NHLPA has announced that Kevin Hayes, Brady Skjei, Jimmy Vesey and Ryan Spooner have all filed for salary arbitration.
Arbitration hearings will be held in Toronto during a period of 7/20 to 8/4.
Asked about the RFAs, Jeff Gorton said earlier this week "
The Rangers have not had an arbitration hearing since 2009 when they walked away from Nikolai Zherdev's award.
Mika Zibanejad filed for arbitration last summer before signing a five-year deal right before the hearing.
The Rangers avoided arbitration with Vlad Namestnikov by signing him to a two-year deal over the weekend.
For more on arbitration, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
Other Ranger RFAs that had the opportunity to elect arbitration but didn't include Rob O'Gara, John Gilmour and Boo Nieves. Those players may have accepted their qualifying offers or declined them but opted against filing for arbitration.
Adam Tambellini reportedly accepted his qualifying offer and signed a one-year deal.
Adam Rotter: This was all expected and just part of the regular offseason process. The Rangers have more than enough cap space to keep all four of these guys but the biggest question will be about term and how long they intend to sign them for. Kevin Hayes, being a UFA next summer, is the most likely to get a long-term deal. That would get him cost certainty and security and still allow the Rangers to move him down the line. Brady Skjei will likely get a two-year contract, that expires the year before he can become a UFA, or a 4-5 year deal that would buy out his first couple of UFA seasons. Jimmy Vesey is interesting because he is two-years away from UFA and a two-year deal is probably the perfect length for him. The Rangers won't go for that and allow him the chance to potentially leave after this deal expires, so they either go for one-year, see how it goes under David Quinn and then go through the whole process again, or go three-years and buy out the first year of UFA which would raise the cap hit to a level that may not be worth it. My guess is that the Rangers go one-year with Vesey and will be thrilled to sign him long-term next summer if he blossoms under David Quinn. If things don't work out this year then the Rangers will move Vesey at some point and give him a fresh start. Spooner is the most interesting because while he can also be a UFA next summer, I think the Rangers would be willing to go with a one-year deal for him and then likely move him as a rental during the season.