Rob The Hockey Guy

Mitch the blog machine (I’ll come up with a better nickname) is back with another UFA of the day feature. Today’s UFA is Jason Arnott. Take it away Mitch!

Name: Jason Arnott

Age: 37

Size: 6’5″, 230lbs

Why the Canucks might want him: Experience. Plain and simple. At age 37 Arnott has been around the block a few times. He has a Stanley Cup ring and knows what it takes to win. His leadership and experience on a young St. Louis team this year proved invaluable. He’s had back to back 17 goal seasons, he’s capable of logging some decent minutes and filling a top six spot if needed. Ideally, I would think he would be a bottom six guy at this point given the Canucks depth right now. However, the Canucks could also put him on the second unit power play which for the past couple of seasons has kind of had a revolving door of players.

Why the Canucks might not want him: His age could play a factor in the Canucks decision to sign him. He hasn’t had a lot of injury issues the past two seasons. Actually, he’s only missed a total of 19 games in the past two seasons.

What I would do: I would offer Arnott a one year deal worth $2.5. If Mason Raymond was worth $2.6 for two years then surely Arnott has to be worth close to that for just one, right? Providing that Arnott can find the back of the net at least 15 times he’ll be ok, and if he gets some power play time on the second unit, those numbers could increase. Besides, the veteran leadership he would bring to the team can only help.

X-Factor: Jason Arnott could be the illegitimate son of country star Randy Travis. At the very least, he could play him in the most boring and chiseled jaw version of him in “The life and times of Randy Travis”.

Rob Says: I’m a huge Jason Arnott fan. Despite his age, I think he can get the job done. Like Mitch mentioned, he has been relatively injury free recently, which is a good sign. He won a cup with the Devils in 2000 as their #1 centre, but he would only have to be a #3 centre in Vancouver. I also love Arnott’s big shot, which would be a nice weapon to have when checking gets more intense in the playoffs and fancy plays aren’t as readily available. Arnott also has the ability to play the point on the power play, which would give the coaching staff options.