Cole Perfetti and the Winnipeg Jets are racing toward a real deadline.
PuckPedia reports an arbitration hearing is set for July 20 if Perfetti and Winnipeg can't reach a deal before then.
Perfetti, still just 24, put up 32 points in 68 games this season, including 12 goals and 3 game-winners.
He's currently working under a $3,250,000 cap number, the figure both sides are negotiating around before the hearing date arrives.
Winnipeg finished 35-35-12 for 82 points this season, 26th overall, a season that already has plenty of loose ends heading into summer.
Perfetti posted just 3 points over his last 10 games, a quiet stretch that adds a bit more uncertainty to his next contract number.
McIntyre laid out the full arbitration schedule in his post, and the tick-tock framing says exactly how tight this window really is.
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Why Winnipeg's next few weeks could reshape the roster
Perfetti isn't the only unresolved situation in Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck's own future with the franchise is genuinely uncertain heading into next season.
Chris Johnston said recently he isn't sure Hellebuyck starts next season with the Jets, and floated Buffalo and Carolina as teams still connected to him.
Hellebuyck posted 18 wins in 57 games this season with a .895 save percentage, numbers that keep his value high no matter where he lands.
Winnipeg also needs a top-six centre, per Johnston, which only adds another moving piece to whatever comes next.
GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has run this franchise since 2011, and he now has an arbitration hearing and a franchise goaltender's trade market landing in the same stretch.
Between an arbitration clock ticking on Perfetti and a franchise goaltender's future still unsettled, Winnipeg's front office is about to have a genuinely busy few weeks.
Nobody in Winnipeg is short on decisions to make right now. The next three weeks will say a lot about which direction this team is actually heading.
Should the Jets trade Connor Hellebuyck before settling Cole Perfetti's contract?
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