The agent for restricted free agents Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart, Matt Keator, confirmed that the winger has filed for salary arbitration but the defenseman has not.

“I think we’re close enough to a deal, a one-year deal, that we decided not to file,” Keator said of his talks on a new contract for Stuart. “We’ll see where that goes.”

UPDATE: Newly acquired forward Gregory Campbell was also among the 31 players to file for arbitration.

Keator said he filed for arbitration on Wheeler’s behalf because the talks with general manager Peter Chiarelli have been of more of a preliminary nature.

“I think we’ll talk more in the next couple weeks. Hopefully we’ll avoid that process,” Keator said.

The Bruins, by my count, have only gone to arbitration once in the Chiarelli era (Andrew Alberts) and have avoided it with Dennis Wideman and Matt Hunwick in the last couple summers.