....and then there were... five

On Friday, Left Wing Brenden Morrow re-signed a two year contract with Dallas, which will pay him $1.9M this season and $2.2M next season. Meanwhile, Edminton re-signed Center/Left Wing Shawn Horcoff to a one year deal.

Why do I care about these guys? I don't really. I'm only mentioning it because these are two of the 11 guys who filed for salary arbitration. Here's the complete list.

1. Shawn Horcoff, Edminton (signed August 19)


2. Marian Hossa, Ottawa(signed August 23)


3. Trent Hunter, New York Islanders (signed August 13)


4. Paul Mara, Phoenix (signed August 22)


5. Josef Melichar, Pittsburgh (signed August 15)


6. Brenden Morrow, Dallas (signed August 19)


7. Mattias Ohlund, Vancouver(signed August 24


8. Justin Papineau, New York Islanders(signed August 24)


9. Brent Sopel, New York Islanders (signed August 16)


10. Dick Tarnstrom, Pittsburgh (awarded $1.6M)


11. Mike York, New York Islanders (signed August 13)

The players who have signed contracts and avoided arbitration have been crossed off the list.

Additionally, two players have actually been summoned to arbitration by their team. Star goaltender Roberto Luongo of the Panthers and winger Alexander Korolyuk of the Sharks have been called out for holding their team hostage. The new CBA allows teams to force hold-out players into an arbitration hearing. The players then must abide by the results of the hearing.

So the total number of players still slated for arbitration hearing is actually seven, but only five of them are there of their own volition. The hearings will begin on Tuesday (the 23rd) and will be resolved by next Saturday (the 27th).

Good luck.

I'm just grateful that I root for a team that is devoid of drama right now. Nobody filed for arbitration, nobody is holding out, and we've got everybody of consequence signed. There are no trade rumors. Nothing. Now we just prepare for opening night.