from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

The first group of 18 players who filed for salary arbitration is scheduled to appear in Toronto for hearings starting on Monday, July 20. Quite a few big names – lead by New York Rangers centre Derek Stepan and Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby – have exercised their right to participate in the process.

The Maple Leafs chose to take goaltender Jonathan Bernier to arbitration, a decision that will make the arbitrator's ruling in that case binding, no matter how big the award. Teams cannot walk away from awards to players they decided to take to arbitration; Edmonton is in the same position with defenceman Justin Schultz.

This year, for the first time ever, both sides will be armed with new data to support their cases. The player and the club may submit "enhanced stats" as evidence, since the NHL added the section to their website in February with the help of sponsor SAP.

Any statistic provided on NHL.com may be used as evidence, the NHLPA confirmed on Monday. Even though "enhanced stats" have been in existence for years, they were inadmissible because they were not statistics officially kept by the league.

Even though "enhanced stats" have been in existence for years, they were inadmissible because they were not statistics officially kept by the league.

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