Early on Thursday, as their 9 a.m. ET arbitration hearing neared in Toronto, Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell and Pat Brisson, the agent for goaltender Jet Greaves, were making last-minute progress toward a contract.

So, together, they made a last-minute plea to delay the start of their hearing, knowing that once the deliberation began, there was no turning back.

As it turns out, even the arbitrator doesn’t want to go through arbitration.

“Everybody wants to get a deal done,” Waddell joked.

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At 9:20 a.m. ET, Waddell and Brisson shook hands on a three-year, $15 million contract for Greaves, 25, who has become an integral part of the dressing room and last season became a No. 1 starter in the NHL.

The deal, which includes a $2 million signing bonus, will carry a salary cap hit of $5 million per season through 2028-29. The final year of the contract, which extends into Greaves’ unrestricted free agency years, includes a five-team no-trade clause.

“It just came down to dollars,” Waddell said. “We both started off with a three-year deal, and that was important to both of us, but we were so far apart on the money.

“But once you’re going to put it in the arbitrator’s hands, we both knew it would have been a one-year contract … Jet didn’t want to do that and we didn’t want that, either.”

Arbitration is not the ugly process it used to be, when the two sides sat across the table from each other and lobbied their positions. Feelings would often get hurt in the process, including a legendary tale from 1997 when then-New York Islanders GM Mike Milbury brought his goaltender Tommy Salo to tears.

These days, players aren’t required to show up for the hearings, and neither are the GMs. The process is almost entirely data-driven. But Waddell and two other front-office staff attended for the Blue Jackets, while both Brisson and Greaves were present.

“It’s not like it used to be 15 years ago, but it’s still better to reach a contract without relying on the process,” Waddell said.

“I’ve been pretty open publicly about this over the past couple of seasons … but (Jet) is one of the best persons I’ve ever been around, so it would have been hard for me to poke holes in him, that’s for sure.”

Greaves was unavailable for comment on Thursday when reached by The Athletic, but is expected to be made available to the media next week.

The 25-year-old went 26-19-9 with a .908 save percentage, a 2.60 goals-against average and two shutouts in 55 games, including 53 starts. He outplayed Elvis Merzļikins twice last season — under two different coaches (Dean Evason, Rick Bowness) to earn the No. 1 job.

The Blue Jackets still have two restricted free agents to sign: center Adam Fantilli and winger Cole Sillinger.

Fantilli, who did not qualify for arbitration, is currently traveling in Italy, putting a temporary hold on contract talks, Waddell said. But the conversations have recently become more productive, and the two sides are expected to talk early next week. Fantilli, like Greaves, is represented by Brisson.

Sillinger, who has an arbitration hearing scheduled for next Monday, may manage to avoid his, too.

“We have a lot of good conversations going on with Sillinger,” Waddell said. “We’re getting closer, so I’m pretty optimistic.”