The Montreal Canadiens and Lars Eller shared that salary arbitration submissions on Wednesday, with Eller’s request almost doubling his team’s assessment.
Eller wants: $3.1 million
Montreal counters with: $1.65 million
Both of those numbers come from a report by the CBC’s Elliotte Friedman.
The salary arbitration session is scheduled for Friday, so the two sides still have time to meet somewhere in the middle.
Eller, 26, didn’t enjoy the greatest contract year in 2013-14. He scored fewer points (26) in 77 games after managing 30 points in 46 games during the lockout-abbreviated 2012-13 campaign. He also had more points (28) in 2011-12, as well.
Eller carried a $1.325 million cap hit the past two seasons with a salary of $1.5 million in 2013-14. He was the main asset the Habs received when they sent Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues in the summer of 2010.
Canadiens blog Habs Eyes on the Prize isn’t certain a compromise will happen in that window of time, yet the idea of arbitration might not be so foreboding:
It’s easy to read into such a small bump offered by the Canadiens, but remember that this is a negotiation. Based on the arbitration awards of the past, and according to lawyers who assure me that these things tend to end up somewhere in the middle, expect to see Eller get somewhere between $2.2-2.5M per year on his new deal.
Either way, this isn’t the biggest task on Montreal GM Marc Bergevin’s to-do list, as P.K. Subban’s arbitration session is scheduled for August 1.