Can someone please enlighten me on exactly how arbitration works?
Does the arbitrator conclude term and money and also a bridge term and money?
Does Chevy decide to go with the long term or bridge deal?
Thanks
In the case of Pionk the player chose arbitration so the team gets to choose.
The Jets give the arbitrator an offer for Pionk, they can either submit a 1 year deal which carries walk away rights or a 2 year deal which only carries walk away rights for 1 year of the 2 year deal. Pionk's camp gives the arbitrator his ask based on 1 and 2 year deals.
Each party then submits their arguments based on NHL verified statistics (no twitter based stat trackers or website that track outside charts or info are allowed). Overall performance is discussed, durability of the player over the length of the last few years, service time and overall contribution to the team, in some cases both on and off the ice.
They talk about statistical comparables and what their AAV is (only players who are RFA eligible may be used as comparables, so basically only players under 27 or with less than 7 years of service time). At this point it comes down to the club telling the arbitrator how Pionk isn't as good as his numbers might suggest or how he doesn't contribute as much to the team as his camp says he does. Pionk's camp will try to argue that he is better than his numbers might suggest and that the Jets are downplaying his contributions to the team. It gets pretty messy and can cause a divide between club and player.
The arbitrator will come to a decision based on which term the Jets elected for 1 or 2 years, usually it ends up being somewhere between what the Jets offered and what Pionk asked for. If 2 years the Jets do not get walk away rights on both years, only 1 year so long as the AAV of the award is $4,538,958 or more. If the Jets chose 2 years and chose to walk away from 1 year of the award then Pionk becomes a UFA next summer.
If the Jets elected for a 1 year deal. They can either accept it and Pionk remains an RFA next summer at which point this process may happen again or they can walk away from the deal as long as its $4,538,958 or more. If they walk away from a 1 year award Pionk then has 4 days to decide if he wants to take the original offer the Jets submitted to the arbitrator. If he elects not to take that original offer he becomes a UFA after those 4 days and can then discuss contracts with any team in the league, including the Jets if he so wishes.
