Jason Arnott returns to New Jersey

A day or two late,I suppose with this,but Jason Arnott has returned to the Devils as Lou Lamoriello swung a deal with the Nashville Predators to return the burly center to the New Jersey.
In exchange,Matt Halischuk and a second round pick in 2011 were shipped to the Music City.

The first thing that I thought of upon hearing of the trade was "Oh,No.What is Arnott's cap number?" and it isn't good at 4.5 million.
However,it is just for one season and although I like Halischuk as a player,the Devils system has the most depth at wing and Halischuk may have been the closest to the Devils among them,he didn't have the highest potential of the group.
I didn't like moving the second rounder,but at least it was able to be a 2011 pick and not totally dismantle this years draft...

However,with Arnott's cap hit,that could mean the end of the Devils being able to sign one of Paul Martin or Ilya Kovalchuk.
Lou Lamoriello disagrees and says with a few moves that everything could be worked out.
As much as I believe in Lou,that seems pretty pie in the sky to me,but if the deck could be rearranged and David Clarkson is still able to be retained,I would be all in favor.

On the ice,this looks like a sharp acquisition.
Arnott should plug right into the second line center spot and despite his age (36 by season start),has yet to see a huge decline in his numbers.
Arnott also makes Patrik Elias able to return to wing,where he is more effective than having to play the pivot.
Elias seems a bit out of sorts at center and bringing Arnott in not only enables Elias to return to a more suitable position,it also could resurrect some chemistry between the two that clicked so well on the same line in the past.
Arnott also should buy the Devils a year in order to season Jacob Josefson properly instead of installing him immediately as a top two line center and that could pay long term dividends as well.

All and all,I like the trade and I think that it should help the club as long as the Devils are able to continue to attempt to change things on a team that has a trend of disappointing playoffs over the last few seasons.

The Devils finally announced officially that their AHL affiliate will be returning to Albany as the the Albany Devils.
The team could not come to an agreement with Lowell for the Tsongas arena and with Albany having a vacancy with the River Rats moving to Charlotte,the fit was a natural one.

The Devils home opener will be on October 8th against the Dallas Stars.
The remainder of the schedule will be announced today.

The draft will be Friday and Saturday and I'll try to gather some information up on the Devils second round pick.

Back later with some cleaning of the inbox....