The schedule of hearings for elected arbitration cases are out.
Nick Robertson was set with a July 28th hearing date.
Teams and players can still negotiate up to the start of the hearing date, which could also mean congrats to Nick Robertson for getting a new contract by July 28th. Last summer all 11 cases were settled without having to go through
the hearing, in 2024 all 14 players who filed for arbitration had their situations resolved with a signed contract prior to the arbitration. In 2023, three players (Philipp Kurashev, Ilya Samsonov and Jeremy Swayman) ended up going all the way through the process with the other 19 settling beforehand.
N. Robertson was a player who filed for arbitration in 2025 – reportedly Robertson was angling for a $2.25 million salary for 2025-26, while Toronto countered with an offer of $1.2 million. The two sides ended up about splitting the difference by agreeing to a $1.825 million contract. They came to those figures following a 2024-25 season that saw Robertson score 15 goals and 22 points over 69 games.
Robertson had a personal career-year in 2025-26 in terms of games played (78), goals (16), assists (16) and points (32). It remains unknown what Robertson is seeking for a contract in 2026-27, based on his figures from last summer the ask could well be in the $3-3.5 million range. It also is not known how much the Penguins are setting their negotiations at, though they did send Robertson a qualifying offer of $1.825 million and likely will slot in somewhere slightly above that figure as negotiations start to heat up. The hearing date of July 28th serves as an unofficial deadline/incentive for player and team to strike a deal and typically is effective at producing an agreement. Based on the above, we’ll set the official Pensburgh estimated guess at an eventual $2.75 million salary. Both AFP Analytics and Evolving Hockey models have projected Robertson to sign for two years at an AAV just north of $3 million, which also might make some sense for both sides if they’d like to add a little term to this negotiation.
The Pens currently have $87 million on the books for player cap hits in 2026-27 (though Evgeni Malkin is in-line for significant bonus money), which leaves them with about $17 million in cap space. Robertson, plus minor leaguer Ville Koivunen, are the only remaining restricted free agents that Pittsburgh has to deal with.
