Top 10 Who Got Away: Jason Arnott (3)

5 years ago

I always thought that had Jason Arnott come to the Edmonton Oilers a decade earlier than he did — as a member of the Boys on the Bus who won five Stanley Cups instead of the outfit that was on the decline in the mid-1990s — he’d have survived the off-ice issues that contributed to his premature departure. He might have thrived in the hockey fishbowl that is Edmonton.

Fact is, Arnott, a big, good-looking centre who’d have fit right in on those Oilers’ championship teams that beat opponents for fun, who were famous for having a good time off the ice, never got the same breaks. When you’re winning, people look the other way. If you’re not, they don’t. Simply put, “boys will boys” wasn’t going to cut it for Arnott when he fell out of favor with fans as quickly as he’d become a favourite with a 33-goal season as a rookie.

Jason Arnott

Center — shoots R
Born Oct 11th, 1974 — Collingwood, ONT
Height 6.05 — Weight 220 [196 cm/100 kg]

Drafted by Edmonton Oilers

Round 1 #7 overall 1993 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S%	ATOI
1993-94	19	EDM	78	33	35	68	1	104	17.0
1994-95	20	EDM	42	15	22	37	-14	128	9.6
1995-96	21	EDM	64	28	31	59	-6	87	11.5
1996-97	22	EDM	67	19	38	57	-21	92	7.7
1997-98	23	TOT	70	10	23	33	-24	99	5.0
1997-98	23	EDM	35	5	13	18	-16	78	5.0
1997-98	23	NJD	35	5	10	15	-8	21	5.1
1998-99	24	NJD	74	27	27	54	10	79	13.5	15:24
1999-00	25	NJD	76	22	34	56	22	51	9.0	17:05
2000-01	26	NJD	54	21	34	55	23	75	15.2	16:12
2001-02	27	TOT	73	25	20	45	2	65	12.7	17:21
2001-02	27	NJD	63	22	19	41	3	59	13.0	17:13
2001-02	27	DAL	10	3	1	4	-1	6	10.7	18:13
2002-03	28	DAL	72	23	24	47	9	51	13.6	16:12
2003-04	29	DAL	73	21	36	57	23	66	14.7	17:00
2005-06	31	DAL	81	32	44	76	13	102	19.2	17:12
2006-07	32	NSH	68	27	27	54	15	48	14.2	17:59
2007-08	33	NSH	79	28	44	72	19	54	11.3	18:59
2008-09	34	NSH	65	33	24	57	2	49	16.8	18:55
2009-10	35	NSH	63	19	27	46	0	26	8.8	18:42
2010-11	36	TOT	73	17	14	31	-6	40	10.1	15:31
2010-11	36	NJD	62	13	11	24	-9	32	9.4	15:27
2010-11	36	WSH	11	4	3	7	3	8	13.3	15:53
2011-12	37	STL	72	17	17	34	13	26	12.0	14:05
6 yrs		NJD	364	110	135	245	41	317	11.1	16:17
5 yrs		EDM	286	100	139	239	-56	489	10.6
4 yrs		DAL	236	79	105	184	44	225	15.6	16:52
4 yrs		NSH	275	107	122	229	36	177	12.6	18:39
1 yr		STL	72	17	17	34	13	26	12.0	14:05
1 yr		WSH	11	4	3	7	3	8	13.3	15:53
Career			1244	417	521	938	81	1242	12.1	16:58

PLAYOFFS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S%	ATOI
1996-97	22	EDM	12	3	6	9	-3	18	11.1
1997-98	23	NJD	5	0	2	2	1	0	0.0
1998-99	24	NJD	7	2	2	4	-3	4	16.7	16:48
1999-00	25	NJD	23	8	12	20	7	18	14.3	16:29
2000-01	26	NJD	23	8	7	15	8	16	19.0	15:49
2002-03	28	DAL	11	3	2	5	-2	6	16.7	15:35
2003-04	29	DAL	5	1	1	2	-1	2	9.1	17:23
2005-06	31	DAL	5	0	3	3	-1	4	0.0	20:04
2006-07	32	NSH	5	2	1	3	0	2	18.2	19:17
2007-08	33	NSH	4	1	0	1	-1	4	16.7	18:29
2009-10	35	NSH	6	2	0	2	-3	0	7.7	17:51
2010-11	36	WSH	9	1	5	6	4	2	7.7	16:03
2011-12	37	STL	7	1	0	1	-1	0	9.1	10:53
Career			122	32	41	73	5	76	12.5	16:21

WITH THE OILERS

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Arnott set a franchise record with 33 goals as a rookie. It seemed he might become the next great Oiler at a time when almost all the names engraved on the five Stanley Cups had been moved along in the name of cost-cutting. Arnie, who tooled around town in a bright red Viper when the weather allowed, looked like a star in the making. Instead, things went sideways. His production dipped. Off the ice, Arnott was slapped with a paternity suit. Then, there was the quote that sunk him with fans, uttered after a bad performance: “I just wasn’t into it.” Remember? Of course you do.

GM Glen Sather has always maintained he didn’t want to trade Arnott, but that he had to because of the pressure brought on by the relentless negative attention. To hear Slats tell it, Arnott was essentially chased out of town by fans and the media. I’m not sure it was as cut-and-dried as that, but after 286 games over parts of five seasons in Edmonton, Arnott and Bryan Muir were sent to New Jersey for forwards Valeri Zelepukin and Bill Guerin. Arnott was just 23 at the time and, as fans found out soon enough, had the best hockey of his career ahead of him.

DOWN THE ROAD

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Arnott won a Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2000, his third season in New Jersey. He scored 20-or-more goals in each of his four full seasons in the swamp. He spent parts of four seasons with the Dallas Stars and had a career-high 76 points in 2005-06. Arnott moved on to Nashville for four seasons and he stayed productive — 72 points in 2007-08 and 33 goals in 2008-09. His career wound down with a second stop in New Jersey and stints in Washington and St. Louis.

All told, Arnott tallied 417-521-936 in 1,244 regular season games and added another 73 points in 122 playoff games. Big, tough and skilled was Arnott — exactly the kind of centre the Oilers lacked and wanted for many seasons after he left. While I’m still not convinced Sather had to trade him, that was the call that was made and there’s not much argument the Oilers lost a helluva player.

This series of various Top 10 lists will focus on the post-1990 Oilers – the players who haven’t played on a Stanley Cup winner in Edmonton.

Previously in this Series:

Nation Takes

Oilers Talk