I guess. But at least we were able to dump them.

Kinda remembers of the last line in the in the movie "Chinatown". "It's Chinatown." In this case, " It's Winnipeg".

Fear of a high arbitration award is part of it, but the real leverage comes from the fact that if the case goes to arbitration, the result is a short-term contract that takes the player into unrestricted free agency. If the team wants to lock him up longer than the minimum number of years, they have to sign him before the arbitration hearing.