Trenin commented on the decision of the arbitration regarding his contract with Nashville

Russian striker “Nashville Predators” Yakov Trenin told how he took the arbitration decision on a new contract with the club.

After the end of last season, becoming a restricted free agent, Trenin went to arbitration over a new contract with Nashville. The NHL club offered a contract for 1.25 million dollars, and the hockey player’s side wanted 2.4. As a result, an independent arbitrator awarded a two-year agreement with the Predators worth $1.7 million per year.

– Yakov, what can you say about the contract that the arbitration awarded you?

– Let’s start with the fact that there were proposals from the club for a new contract, we just could not agree on conditions that would suit both parties. Nashville offered less than I wanted. As a result, we could not agree on the time allotted for this and had to go to arbitration. I will add that I wanted to stay in this team and sign a contract for a long time. To be honest, initially there was not such a big difference between what we wanted and what they offered.

Not much is known about the arbitration process itself. Tell me how it went.

– Due to the fact that I did not have a contract, I could not get a visa to Canada. Therefore, the meetings were held on Zoom. At first, our side performed for 45 minutes, then the club played the same amount. After a break, both sides spoke again and within two days they had to make a final decision. But everything dragged on for four whole days.

How did you react to the final decision?

– At first, of course, I was a little upset, I thought that we had lost, but then I calmed down. I have a contract for two years and now I need to prove by playing that I deserve more. So I’m going into the new season in a good mood.

— And yet some unpleasant aftertaste from this situation remained?

– Yes, as they say, the sediment remained.

– Will this arbitration become a problem in your relationship with the club?

I don’t think it’s all in the past now. If I had such an opportunity, then I should have used it. I need to think about hockey, about how to get a more significant role in the team. And these two years will be of the utmost importance for his future career, – Rossiyskaya Gazeta quoted Trenin as saying.