The Avalanche and restricted free agent defenseman Tyson Barrie are scheduled to go through a salary arbitration hearing in Toronto Friday at 7 a.m., MDT, but it remains possible that the two sides will agree to contract terms before the hearing opens, leading to its cancellation.
In fact, 22 of the 25 NHL players who were scheduled for arbitration hearings instead reached agreements with their teams, and only Barrie, Toronto defenseman Martin Marincin (next Tuesday) and Arizona defenseman Michael Stone (Aug. 4) remained on the arbitration docket as of Thursday. So if Barrie’s camp and the Avalanche actually move forward with the arbitration hearing, it will be the first of the NHL’s offseason.