The Nashville Predators sent captain and center Jason Arnott to the New Jersey Devils, one of his former teams, for prospect right wing Matt Halischuk and a second-round draft pick in the 2011 draft.
Arnott, who is best known for scoring the Stanley Cup-clinching goal for the Devils against the Dallas Stars in 2000, has one year and $4.5 million remaining on the five-year deal he signed with Nashville in 2006.
Nashville President of Hockey Operations and General Manager David Poile said during a news conference Saturday that the time seemed right to trade his captain of the past three seasons.
"After sitting down with Jason after last year, we talked about the highs and lows of the season and talked about the future," Poile said. "We both agreed that maybe it was best for both our team and his career that it was time to move on. I categorize this as sort of a bold move."
Poile indicated that he will confer with his coaching staff before making a decision on the next captain. The leading candidates for the position are defensemen Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, but a veteran forward like Steve Sullivan could also garner some consideration.
Arnott had 19 goals and 27 assists in 2009-2010. An elbow injury and a concussion limited Arnott to just 63 regular-season games last season. In 1,099 career regular season NHL games, Arnott has scored 383 goals and added 490 assists with Edmonton, New Jersey, Dallas and Nashville.
Arnott had two goals in Nashville's six-game loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in their Western Conference quarterfinal series last season.
Halischuk, 22, had one goal in 20 games with the Devils last season and 22 points in 32 AHL contests.
The Arnott trade was Poile's second trade on a busy Saturday. Hours earlier, he shipped the rights to impending unrestricted free agent defenseman Dan Hamhuis to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Ryan Parent and a conditional pick in the 2011 draft.
"We have had many conversations with Dan and his agent as to try to find a way we could sign him," Poile said. "Through the last conversation we had, we could not sign Dan to what he wanted, so we made the best deal we possibly could."
Parent is no stranger to the Nashville Predators organization, as he was originally drafted by Nashville in the first round in the 2005 draft. Parent was sent to Philadelphia in 2007 as part of the trade that brought Peter Forsberg to Music City.
"He's 23-years-old, hes 6-2 and he's already one of the best skating defensemen in the National Hockey League," Poile said of Parent. "This is a really good re-addition to our lineup if you will."
SOURCE: The Associated Press
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