Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson and winger Brandon Duhaime file for arbitration

Talks between the Wild and some of their unsigned restricted free agents could start to accelerate.

Goaltender Filip Gustavsson and forward Brandon Duhaime filed for salary arbitration ahead of Wednesday's deadline, which guarantees a resolution ... but most negotiations get finalized before a hearing is necessary.

Gustavsson is coming off his first season with the Wild and first exclusively in the NHL.

Before the Wild acquired him in the Cam Talbot trade with Ottawa last summer to back up Marc-Andre Fleury, Gustavsson had been roving between the minors and Senators. But he had a breakout performance with the Wild, eventually taking on more responsibility in net that included starting five of the team's six playoff games against Dallas.

Gustavsson, 25, finished the season 22-9-7 with a 2.10 goals-against average, .931 save percentage and three shutouts. His last contract was for two years and $1.575 million.

Duhaime has been a mainstay in the Wild's lineup ever since he made the team out of training camp two years ago. During 2022-23, he tallied nine goals and an assist in 51 games as a depth winger who also killed penalties.

Through 131 career NHL games, the fourth-round draft pick by the Wild in 2016 has 15 goals and 12 assists. Duhaime's previous contract was a two-year, $1.5 million deal.

Both players can continue to communicate with the Wild, but a hearing will be set for later this month or August if a contract isn't agreed upon beforehand.

If a hearing is ultimately needed, the Wild would get to select the term of Gustavsson's deal (either one or two years). Duhaime's contract would be for one year since the 26-year-old is only one season away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency.

In a hearing, each side presents its case, which can include statistics and comparisons to similar players, and a ruling is delivered within 48 hours.

But rarely does this process play out, because most teams and players reach an agreement before requiring arbitration. Last year, there were 26 arbitration filings league-wide and only one wasn't settled before a hearing.

Also still without a deal for next season is defenseman Calen Addison, who didn't have the option to elect for salary arbitration like Gustavsson and Duhaime.

Wild General Manager Bill Guerin said recently the team would start negotiations soon with Addison, but the team already has budgeted how much contracts for all three players will cost. These projections have left the Wild with little flexibility this offseason because those deals could eat up most of their remaining salary cap space.

Last Saturday, they signed Vinni Lettieri and Jake Lucchini to two-way contracts before acquiring veteran forward Pat Maroon, a trade with Tampa Bay in which the Lightning retained a portion of Maroon's salary so the Wild are only responsible for paying him $800,000 next season.

After adding Maroon, Guerin said the Wild were taking their time with re-signing Gustavsson, Duhaime and Addison and there was no rush.

"Even if someone chooses [arbitration], it doesn't mean you just stop talking and you're going to wait for arbitration," Guerin said. "You can still try to work something out. Whether that happens or not, we'll see.

"You just continue to grind it out. This isn't unusual."