Arnott’s double-OT Stanley Cup winner in 2000

More than thirteen years after his Stanley-Cup winning goal in Dallas, Jason Arnott officially retired from the NHL yesterday after nineteen seasons in the league.

“I would like to thank everyone who helped me throughout my NHL career, including my family, friends, teammates and fans,” Arnott said in a release announcing his retirement put out by the NHL Players’ Association. “Playing in the NHL was my dream, and I am very proud and appreciative of the fact I was able to play at the highest level for 19 years, with the best players in the world. Each of the teams I played for provided me with great experiences and memories, and our Stanley Cup team in New Jersey certainly stands out among all of them.”

Amazingly, Arnott’s the first member of the A-line to officially step away from hockey.  Petr Sykora probably won’t be back in the NHL but he’s still kicking around overseas after a feel-good 20-goal season in 2011-12 back in New Jersey, while Patrik Elias is still one of the team’s top players and signed through the next three years.  It was Arnott (the A part of the A-line) who was the big, physical center between the two on one of the best – if not the best – lines in Devils history between 1999-2002.

Arnott began his career in Edmonton, a first-round pick of the Oilers in 1993 (7th overall).  His career in Edmonton was up-and-down, beginning with a splash with 68 points in his rookie season, finishing second in the Calder voting to some kid named Brodeur in New Jersey.  Although he maintained a solid level of production his first four years, he never was able to match his spectacular 33-goal season as a rookie with the Oilers, and was eventually dealt out of Edmonton – going to the Devils with defenseman Bryan Muir in exchange for ’95 Cup winners Bill Guerin and Valeri Zelepukin.

After a slow start in ’98 with the Devils, Arnott picked it up when then-coach Robbie Ftorek put him in between Czech-mates Elias and Sykora, and that line proved to be instant chemistry.  They would become the Devils’ top line for the better part of four seasons.  Arnott’s numbers were modest for most of his tenure here, but the line’s production was far more than modest – and the big centerman had a terrific playoff run in 2000, with eight goals and twenty points culminating in his double-OT goal in Game 6 that clinched the Stanley Cup, off a one-timer from a no-look pass by Elias.  Arnott’s goal was a seminal moment for the line, as fellow linemate Sykora had been forced to leave the game after being drilled by Derian Hatcher in the first period, and fellow A-line member Elias brought Sykora’s jersey onto the ice during the postgame celebration.

History proved things would only go downhill after that for two-thirds of the A-line, although Arnott ripped off 55 points in 54 games (his best individual production here) and the Devils were a dominant team in ’00-01 once Arnott and Scott Niedermayer‘s contract issues were resolved after each held out for twenty games.  However, the playoffs were a roller-coaster.  Arnott did have eight goals and fifteen points in 23 games, but missed two games in the Cup Finals after being struck in the head with a puck.  Even the A-line couldn’t overcome a star-studded, hungrier Colorado team in Games 6 and 7 of the Finals though.  With the Devils stuck in the mud for most of 2001-02, eventually big changes would be made, and one of them was shipping Arnott and long-time Devil Randy McKay to Dallas for Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner.

While the trade helped the Devils to another championship in 2003, Arnott had two solid years in Dallas followed by a brilliant 32-goal, 76-point season in 2005-06 coming off a year-long lockout.  After that season, Arnott left Dallas as a free agent to go to Nashville, where he had four more solid seasons – putting up 72 points in ’07-08 and 33 goals in ’08-09…but in seven full seasons with the Stars and Predators he only got out of the first round of the playoffs once.  With Nashville retooling and Arnott a step slower it cleared the way for a return to the Devils in ’10-11 when we traded Matt Halischuk and a 2nd-round pick to make that reunion happen.

Unfortunately his second tenure wasn’t as successful as his first as he and the team both struggled, though eventually Arnott was dealt out of New Jersey to Washington where he was rejuvanated for a time, with 13 points in 20 games (regular season and playoffs combined)…but the Caps’ second-round loss ended his season.  Arnott went to St. Louis for one final campaign in ’11-12, and attempted a comeback post-lockout last year when he signed with the Rangers, but failed a physical.

For his career, Arnott played 1244 regular season games with 417 goals, 521 assists and 1,242 penalty minutes.  He played 122 playoff games and had 32 goals, 41 assists and 76 PIM’s.  Of course Devil fans will always look back at one goal in particular, and the time he spent between Elias and Sykora when they were a dominant force as a line.  Despite everything that happened with Arnott here afterward, and everything going on with the team now, nobody can take that memory away – or the name etched in silver on the Stanley Cup.