The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced the signing of forward Marek Svatos to a two-year contract, avoiding an arbitration hearing scheduled for today.

"Marek Svatos has been a key ingredient to our success the last few years," said Avalanche Executive Vice President and General Manager Francois Giguere. "He’s scored many big goals for this club and we expect him to be a strong force for us again this season."

>> team release

Talk about cutting it close. I imagine Giguere and Svatos were in Toronto already, getting ready for the hearing.

It's a very reasonable two-year, $4.1-million deal (link).

Originally there were 15 players that opted for arbitration, but that number is quickly dwindling as players and their teams avoid the hearings. Still without contracts are Jay Bouwmeester, Antoine Vermette, Valtteri Filppula, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Ville Koistinen and Shaone Morrisonn.

I don't have their arbitration dates in front of me, but they are all scheduled for between July 20 and Aug. 4, with decisions to come in by Aug. 6.
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