The State Of Barrett Hayton

The Peterborough, Ontario-born winger is a restricted free agent and the only player left unsigned by Utah a week into free agency.

The summer is underway, but the most interesting part of free agency is about to begin: arbitration.

Salary arbitration occurs when players and clubs call in a third-party mediator to help resolve contract disputes, and these are reserved for restricted free agents.

What are restricted free agents? Sportsnet and CapFriendly describe them as players who are basically bound to their teams and can only be lured away via offers from other squads.

In Utah HC's case, defenceman Sean Durzi was one of those restricted free agents, but was signed to an extension last Sunday.

The only player left unsigned by the club is another restricted free agent in forward Barrett Hayton.

The former 5th overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft by the former Arizona Coyotes, Hayton had a breakout year in 2022-23 with 43 points, 10 of them on the power play.

His career, however, has been unfortunately snakebit by injuries. Hayton only played in 33 games last season, hampered by a broken hand that required surgery before Christmas and a lower-body injury that sidelined him in March.

That said, Hayton's name was not on the list of players that elected salary arbitration released yesterday by the league, which notably included defenceman Ryan Lindgren of the New York Rangers and potential Utah free agent target Martin Necas.

Whether an extension is in the works or not, Hayton's name will be one to watch for Utah fans as arbitration hearings loom in less than two weeks; he's a young talent with plenty of upside.