The Devils send Jason Arnott to the Washington Capitals for David Steckel and Washington’s 2012 2nd Round pick. Steckel is owed 1.1 million for the next 2 years, becoming a UFA on July 1, 2013.
At first glance, this trade doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. For one, Arnott’s salary was coming off the books this summer as he was to become a UFA and now the Devils have added more money to their cap. Second, I’d much rather have a 2011 pick but I guess a 2012 pick is ok.
Arnott IS an aging center, I will give the masses that much and Steckel is supposed to be good at faceoffs but like I mentioned this morning, why screw with the chemistry. Maybe Arnott never lit the fire under Elias’ ass like it was hoped he would, but I still think Arnott brought something to the table. Lets not dismiss that we’ve traded a guy that has size and has score 13 goals and 11 assists this season for a guy who’s scored only 5 goals and 6 assists. While Arnott has produced like we hoped, for me, Steckel lost his game as soon as he signed his 3 year extension. His only notable play this season was cracking Crosby’s skull on Jan 1st. Speaking of Sidney Crosby, he can’t be happy that he’ll be facing David Steckel 6 times a year now!!
My hope is that Steckel coming in doesn’t ruin anything the Devils have done in their last 21 games and maybe can win a few important face-offs. Other than that, I’m not really thrilled about this move.
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