Salary arbitration is a critical step in Michael Del Zotto getting himself a new contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. If all goes well, Del Zotto will remain a Flyer for at least a little while longer. If things go badly, well, he won’t remain a Flyer. Let me explain how salary arbitration works:

In a salary arbitration, the player and team get together and present their requested salary amount to a neutral, third party arbitrator. So if Del Zotto believes he should get a two-year, $10 million contract (hypothetical?), then he will present evidence as to why he deserves that contract. If he can prove that his contributions to the team are worth the contract and provide evidence in the form of other comparable players’ contracts as support, then he could have leverage in the hearing.

After the player, in this case Del Zotto, makes their case, then the arbitrator will make a final say on what he believes the player’s salary should be 48 hours after the hearing. The team in the scenario, in this case the Flyers, then has the option to either sign the player to the contract decided by the arbitrator or decline it, resulting in that player becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Long story short, it’s about to go down. The hearing is set for Tuesday, July 21.

Luckily for Flyers fans, there is a high level of mutual interest between Del Zotto and the Flyers. Del Zotto turned his career around in Philadelphia last season racking up 32 points in 64 games, quickly becoming a fan favorite among Flyers fans. If things go well in the arbitration, expect Philadelphia to ink Del Zotto to a brand spankin’ new contract with lots of zeroes on it. The way things are going now, that seems to be pretty realistic. Don’t hesitate on buying your No. 15 Del Zotto jerseys, kids.