TEAM 4

H.A.C.C. Arbitration Brief Filed on Behalf of Ondřej Pavelec

9/17/2012

Introduction

Ondrej Pavelec is a professional ice-hockey player who was born in Kladno,

Czechoslovakia on August 31, 1987. He measures 6’3” in height and 220 lbs. in weight. He plays as a . Following the signing of his next NHL Standard Player Contract (SPC),

Mr. Pavelec will be entering his sixth NHL season as a twenty-five year old. In terms of experience, Mr. Pavelec has amassed 187 Games Played (GP) in the NHL and is currently ranked second among goalies born in his calendar year behind only three time All-Star Carey

Price.1 In relation to his draft class, he is ranked third behind Mr. Price, and Conn Smythe

Winner and Champion, Jonathan Quick.2

Argument

We submit that, because of his goaltending pedigree, his length of service and contributions to the club, and most importantly, his statistical accomplishments, and how they compare to similarly situated players, Mr. Pavelec’s value as a professional goaltender in the

NHL is higher than $3.9 million dollars per season.

Goaltending Pedigree

Over the course of his development as a goalie, Mr. Pavelec has achieved several distinguished honours. Most notably, he led the 2007-08 Chicago Wolves to a victory.3 During the 07-08 AHL regular season, Mr. Pavelec had 52 GP and posted a 2.77 Goals

Against Average (GAA) along with a .911 Save Percentage (SV%). During the team’s playoff run that year, he improved statistically by dropping his GAA down to 2.34 and boosting his SV%

.921. To date, this remains the strongest indicator regarding the issue of whether Mr. Pavelec is capable of carrying a team to a championship. Furthermore, Mr. Pavelec has suited up for his

1 http://www.hockey-reference.com/friv/birthyears.cgi?year=1987 2 http://www.hockey-reference.com/draft/NHL_2005_entry.html 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ond%C5%99ej_Pavelec

1 native Czech Republic in international play at two major tournaments. In 2010, he was a member of the Czech team that won Gold at the World Championships. He only played in one game in which he registered a 3.05 GAA and a .800 SV%.4 While on their face those numbers are unflattering, we submit that the value of the experience of representing one’s national team at a major international tournament can outweigh one’s actual performance. This submission is supported by Mr. Pavelec’s performance at the World Championships the following year, where he had 8 GP and posted a very impressive 1.88 GAA and a .939 SV% while leading his team to a bronze medal victory. We submit that Mr. Pavelec has gained very valuable experience successfully fulfilling his duties as a goaltender in the AHL and on the international stage. In both contexts, he has shown that he can be competitive and successful.

Length of Service and Contributions to the Club

In the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Ondrej Pavelec was selected by the now defunct Atlanta

Thrashers in the second round, forty-first overall.5 Prior to the 2007-08 season, the Thrashers signed Mr. Pavelec to a three-year two-way Entry Level Contract (ELC) with a total value of

$2.55 million. While under this contract, Mr. Pavelec split time between the NHL and AHL, and by the time he reached his third year as a Thrasher, he made an appearance in over half the team’s games in 2009-10.6 The organization expressed their continued interest in his goaltending services by signing him to a two-year one-way contract for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons with an Average Annual Value of $1.15 million.7 We submit that the Thrashers awarded Mr.

Pavelec this contract on the basis of his on-ice production and future potential. We believe he has

4 http://capgeek.com/players/display.php?id=365 5 http://www.hockey-reference.com/play