"One by one, 19 of the 20 players with arbitration dates settled their affairs this summer, with each avoiding the nasty process of sitting down with an arbitrator in the middle of the off-season.

On Tuesday morning, however, the biggest name on the list in Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber went to his hearing, becoming the only player to do so this year and one of the few ever to do so in a team-elected arbitration case.

It could be, in short, bad news for the budget-conscious Preds.

Of the last 10 arbitration cases where the hearing actually took place, nine of the players involved ended up playing for another team after that following season.

The 10th was Washington Capitals defenceman Shaone Morrisonn, who lasted only two years after a contentious arbitration hearing before moving on.

History could easily repeat itself with Weber, who can become an unrestricted free agent as early as July 1, 2013, barring a change in the UFA age in the NHL's next collective bargaining agreement.

While details of what took place in Weber's hearing on Tuesday in Toronto remain behind closed doors, the cases tend to get ugly, with teams trying to justify putting forth as low a figure as they can and the player's agency countering with a sky-high number.

An arbitrator generally splits the difference, giving an award somewhere in the middle."