In The Cheap Seats

Final Grade: B-

Midseason Grade: C

Season Stats: 82 GP, 16 G, 33A, 49 Pt, -8, 211 shots

Minutes: 1179 (5^th out of 18 F), EV 11:55, PP 2:20, PK 0:08

Splits:

1^st Half: 41 GP, 11 G, 16 A, 27 Pt, +1, 120 shots

2^nd Half: 41 GP, 5 G, 17 A, 22 Pt, -9, 91 shots

Positions: C (78 GP), LW (4)

Lines: 2^nd Line (41 GP), 3^rd (40), 1^st (1)

Linemates:

C: Stastny (3), Sakic (1)

LW: McLean (51), Richardson (20), Laaksonen (3), Rycroft (2), Turgeon (1), Wolski (1)

RW: Laperriere (56), Hejduk (14), Svatos (9), Rycroft (2), Brunette (1)

Career: Arnason matched a career high in assists (33) and his 49 points represents the 2^nd highest total of his career

Report: An interesting player…One night, he’d be the best player on the ice…The next night? Invisible…22 games where he had 4+ shots…24 games with 1 or none…Showed some slick moves with the puck…Was wonderful weaving through two or three players and then either shooting or passing off to the open man…Has an unorthodox shot that seems to catch some goaltenders by surprise…Really shies away from contact…No really: just 2 hits last year…I bump into more people in line at the dinner buffet…Good numbers at even strength (37 points, 5^th best on the team)…Terrible production on the powerplay…Just 12 PP points, and 5 came in the last 11 games…That’s not terribly surprising – he seems to do his best work in traffic…He does have good hands, but not a lot of other attributes that make him a compelling powerplay option…Still, 1 PP goal in 191:52 of ice time is anemic no matter how you cut it…Not really a factor defensively, and awful (43.8% on faceoffs)…I generally stay away from judging non-playing qualities, but Arnason strikes me as a guy who doesn’t enjoy the game and isn’t all that concerned with winning or losing.

Fast Fact: Arnason was one of just 3 players with 82 games and less than 10 hits. All 3 played in the NW (Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Petr Sykora were the others).

2007-2007 Salary: $950,000

2007-2008 Status: UFA

Outlook: Arnason certainly put up decent 3^rd line numbers last year, but his lack of consistent effort was maddening. It’s tough to really judge what Arnason will demand in the open market this year. Last summer, he was coming off his embarrassing stay in Ottawa and got almost a million bucks. After an improved season, what will he command this year? Two million? Three? For that kind of cake, I personally would prefer someone who will show up every night and have the kind of character you’d want to see in the playoffs. I don’t mean to be that down on Arnason, as we certainly could have done worse at that position. I just feel there are better – and perhaps cheaper - options for our 3^rd line center.