Today news has landed confirming that three Winnipeg Jets players have elected for arbitration and will now begin a major contract dispute with the organization. As NHL Free Agency continues, most of the big names who were unrestricted free agents have found new homes including former Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers <a href='https://www.hockeylatest.com/nhl/news/nikolaj-ehlers-officially-leaves-winnipeg-signs-with-new-team' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>who signed in Carolina.</a> Now, the league has transitioned into the second major phase of free agency involving restricted free agents. Each team around the league tendered qualifying offers to their restricted free agents before July 1st thereby retaining their rights but allowing the players to negotiate with other teams in the meantime. Today, the second part of this process has taken place as players were afforded the opportunity to file for salary arbitration through a mutual arbiter. The first step in this process allows players to file for arbitration. If a Player has not signed an offer sheet, they can elect to go to arbitration. They must elect to do so by July 5 at 5pm Eastern. For the Winnipeg Jets all three of their unsigned restricted free agents Morgan Barron, Dylan Samberg, and Gabriel Vilardi filed for that arbitration. <div align='center' class='pl20 pr20'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1941604600366153776'><div style='border:1px solid #CCCCCC;border-radius:10px;padding:20px;width:300px;'>Loading from Twitter ...</div></a></blockquote></div> At first, this decision could seem like a bad thing for the Jets as it means the players are forcing the hand of the Winnipeg Jets to go to arbitration. However, this decision also now means that each of those players can no longer receive offers from other organizations and will instead head into an all out back and forth with the Jets organization. Essentially, all three of the Jets players filing for arbitration secures their future in Winnipeg as part of the Jets once this process plays out. <div align='center' class='pl20 pr20'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/mikemcintyrewpg/status/1941601326594654578'><div style='border:1px solid #CCCCCC;border-radius:10px;padding:20px;width:300px;'>Loading from Twitter ...</div></a></blockquote></div> As for players like Bowen Byram of the Buffalo Sabres who did not file for arbitration offer sheets can still be made and he could still sign elsewhere. <div align='center' class='pl20 pr20'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/puckreportnhl/status/1941604950770901149'><div style='border:1px solid #CCCCCC;border-radius:10px;padding:20px;width:300px;'>Loading from Twitter ...</div></a></blockquote></div> The next step for Barron, Samberg, and Vilardi will likely be the arbitration hearing where the Jets organization led by Kevin Cheveldayoff and the players' representatives led by their agents will present a contract to the arbitrator. From there, each side will argue their case for why they believe their offer is fair and from their the arbitrator will choose which side wins. Whichever side the arbitrator picks is the contract that the player will then be signed to for the upcoming season as the two sides then work toward a long-term deal. The evidence that is allowed to be presented during these hearings included a player's performance/statistics, injury history, length of service, leadership qualities and contribution to the team's results. Teams/players cannot use other players' salaries or the state of the team's cap situation during these discussions. The arbitrator determines what the salary should be for the player, which must come no more than 48 hours after the hearing has concluded. At this point, the arbitration hearings for the Jets players have not been scheduled. As more developments are made in this story we will pass along all of the latest news.