PuckMunchkin
Very Nice, Very Evil!
An arbitrator would have decided his contract this season if they didn't come to terms.
Canucks were certainly free to go to arbitration and push for those numbers if they wanted to. No reason to give Stecher $2.3 million per if they felt that they could convince the arbitrator to come close to those numbers. Canucks would go in citing comps on the low end, while Stecher would use comps on the high end. Ultimately, the arbitrator will weigh all of the numbers, underlying stats, comps, etc. and make a ruling.
The Canucks are in a position to grind Virtanen to around a $1 million or so contract since he has no leverage whatsoever. He has no arbitration rights and with the number of 1 way deals on this roster, he can't afford to miss camp. And he has until Dec 1 to sign or miss the season. His numbers haven't been great during his ELC either. And I doubt any team is coming in with an offer sheet on him.
I think Virtanen will be pleasantly surprised by the contract they will offer him.