The long awaited day has finally come, the day in which Nikolai Zherdev's arbitration hearing will take place in Toronto, Ontario. A lot has happened leading up to this event, and the drama and suspense has done nothing but increase vastly. Zherdev tied for the team lead in points scored (58), as he registered 23 goals and 35 assists in 82 games played with the Rangers last season. Based on his play early on last season, the 24 year-old winger was on pace to score more than just 23 goals. Nik led the team in most categories in the month of November, but then once the All-Star break came in January, Zherdev seemed lost out there. Z had several long stretches where he couldn't net a goal, or even record a point. When fans thought Nik was at his all-time worst after the second half of the regular season, they were taken by surprise when matters got even more awful, as the young Russian did not obtain a single point in the seven game playoff series with the Washington Capitals.
The decline of Zherdev's game picked up speed once Tom Renney was replaced by current head coach, John Tortorella. It seemed as if Zherdev was just not meant to play under a "Torts" type coach, because Nik just was not himself on the ice. Tortorella recognized Zherdev's fall, the lack of effort, and the one-dimensional play Nik was bringing to the ice, so he benched him for two whole periods late in the regular season. Well, that didn't help even the slightest bit, the action just made matters worse. Zherdev and Tortorella are not made for each other, as they hold polar-opposite personalities.
So just to recap what has happened so far this summer as far as Zherdev goes; We learned that Zherdev received a qualifying offer of $3.25 million from Glen Sather and the Rangers in late June. Then, in early July, a Russian article was translated and quoted Zherdev on saying that he felt he wanted to come back to the Rangers, but he also wanted around $4 million. From there, another Russian interview had Nikolai saying that he felt Renney had more trust in him than Tortorella did. All was quiet after the Russian interviews, until early this week, we found out that Zherdev and his agent, Roland Hedges, put in a bid of $4.5 million for his arbitration hearing which takes place today.
Here is the order of events that will take place from now until a decision is made on the final salary for Zherdev, and the options the Blueshirts and Nik will have. The arbitration hearing will take place sometime today in Toronto, ON, Canada. The Rangers will send a representative and Zherdev will be present with his agent. The arbitrator will listen to both cases, and consider the bid each party puts in. Once the actual hearing is complete, the arbitrator has 48 hours to make a decision on a final salary for Zherdev. After the arbitrator sets the salary, the Rangers have 48 hours to consider the option to reject the amount and allow Zherdev to become a UFA, accept and sign Zherdev to a contract, or accept and sign Zherdev and then eventually trade him for something in return. If the Rangers reject the arbitrator's set amount, and Zherdev becomes an un-restricted free agent, then Nik and his agent have the right to talk to any team in the league to try and negotiate a deal, or Nik can always make the move toward the KHL, where he comes from.
In my opinion, anything over $4 million is too expensive for a one-dimensional player like Zherdev right now, and the Rangers will end up rejecting the offer if that is the case. If Zherdev is awarded anything under $4 million, but higher than $3.25 million, Glen Sather and the Blueshirt Brass will most likely consider signing, and then trading Zherdev for something in return. If Zherdev is awarded $3.25 million, then the Rangers will likely sign him, as that is the amount the qualified him at, but that is very doubtful.
So the options are wide open right now, but the arbitrator's final decision, which we will find out anywhere between today and early next week, will change that. I would love to have Zherdev on this team, as he is great depth scoring, but at $4.5 million it will be impossible to fit the Russian into the lineup. This promises to be a very interesting situation, but I feel that after this is all settled, Glen Sather will be making any last moves he wishes to before camp begins in September.
(Image courtesy of AP Photo)