With Garnet Exelby and Jim Slater recently signed to new contracts the Thrashers have taken care of all of their restricted free agents. No surprises there, but it's worth noting that both Exelby and Slater had filed for salary arbitration and both came to terms with the club well before their scheduled hearings.

That continues GM Don Waddell's remarkable streak of arbitration-free summers. Arbitration hearings are rarely civil things and as often as not they lead to salary inflation and ill-will between the team and player. That's why it's so impressive that Waddell has never had to walk into an arbitration hearing as Atlanta's general manager. Every single Thrasher that has filed for salary arbitration has signed a contract before their hearing. All of them. And you can be sure that's a point of pride for Waddell who is known for doing his best to keep contract talks civil. It's just not worth it to tear a player apart during negotiations (in arbitration or not) as you try to convince them they're not as valuable as they think they are. It's bad for their confidence, bad for their overall morale and bad for their relationship with the team. It also makes it a whole lot harder to sign that player the next time around. Getting a player to sign a short-term contract is much easier for general managers who are seen as being fair and civil, but they'll stay away from teams known for nasty contract negotiations. Look at Eric Boulton. He's entering his third season as a Thrasher and every year he's signed a one-year contract. He knows he's appreciated and he knows he's that next summer if he wants to stick around in Atlanta that he can have reasonable and honest conversations with management because they've built a good relationship. nobody will tell you that Waddell is a pushover at the bargaining table, but I've never heard anyone say he was difficult to deal with either.

That kind of thing counts. It mattered to Ondrej Pavelec and his agent in May and it mattered to Ilya Kovalchuk when he signed a long-term deal in 2005. It also mattered to Slava Kozlov, who took less money to stay with a team he's comfortable with, and it will matter as Don continues to talk to Marian Hossa and his agent about an extension.