Cates and the Flyers will turn to a third party to settle the young forward's contract dispute.
Twenty-two NHL players have filed for salary arbitration, the NHLPA announced Wednesday.
One of those players is Philadelphia Flyers forward Noah Cates.
What exactly is salary arbitration? It's a lot less scary than it sounds.
A player or team can elect salary arbitration. In this case, Cates opted to take the arbitration route. When a player elects for salary arbitration, a hearing is scheduled for that player and their team to discuss a reasonable salary before an independent arbiter, who will ultimately decide the player's salary based on both the player and the team's respective arguments. Once the arbiter has decided on a salary, the team has 48 hours to decide whether it accepts the proposed salary or not. If the team does not agree during that 48-hour window, the player will become an unrestricted free agent.
Salary arbitration rarely reaches that point, though. In many cases, players and teams reach an agreement before their hearing even takes place.
But for the Flyers to reach a deal with Cates before the hearing date, they may have to pay up more than they'd prefer.
Cates is coming off a very impressive season as a rookie. The 24-year-old logged 13 goals and 38 points in 82 games and established himself as one of the top two-way players on the Flyers' roster.
Thanks to his stellar 200-foot play, Cates quickly earned the good graces of head coach John Tortorella, who praised the Minnesota native at every opportunity possible.
"You know how much I feel about him. He's just had a really, really good year and is such an intelligent young player," Tortorella told the media in March.
"I think if we slot him right, if we get to where we want to be eventually here maybe in a couple years and we slot him right — I think he's gonna have a really big role with this club."
The Flyers made Cates (along with four other RFAs) a qualifying offer last month, but that offer clearly was not to Cates' liking.
Salary arbitration hearings will be held from July 20 to August 4.