In his latest example of bludgeon negotiation, Devils GM Lou Lamoriello has given unsigned Stanley Cup heroes Jason Arnott and Scott Niedermayer take-it-or-leave-it contract offers which both players have turned down.
Sources told The Post last night that Lamoriello Monday unilaterally declared the contract negotiations for each player terminated, and vowed that the offers he made that day would be the last they would receive.
Each player was seeking an annual salary in the $4 million range, certainly not out of line in relation to other comparable players around the league. Each was also counting on management’s vow last season to stop paying for promise and start paying for results.
Lamoriello, however, has offered Arnott a two-year deal at $2.5 million and $2.6 million, and offered Niedermayer a three-year contract at $3.5 million, $3.6 million and $3.7 million.
Arnott forsook two chances to soak Lamoriello in salary arbitration, instead remaining at the $1.8 million salary level for the past three seasons.
The Devils’ No. 1 center for the past 1½ seasons, the power pivot between Petr Sykora and Patrik Elias, Arnott has fulfilled the promise of his rookie year in Edmonton, when he scored 33 goals. He went 26-34-56 on a four-line team, finishing plus-22, third-best on the team.
Arnott saved his biggest heroics for the playoffs, sharing the team lead with 20 postseason points, and scoring the Cup-winning goal in double overtime in Game 6 in Dallas.
Niedermayer earned $3.25 million last season, the end of a two-year deal he reluctantly signed under similar circumstances on Oct. 29, 1998, missing the first nine games of that season.
The 27-year-old led all Devil defensemen in scoring for the fifth straight season last year, piling up 209 points in that stretch, and the only Devil backliner to accomplish that feat. He scored five playoff goals, tops among the Devil defensemen and fourth-most on the team, and scored the opening goal of the 2-1 double OT victory that brought the 2000 Cup to New Jersey.
The two players are believed to feel insulted by Lamoriello’s heavy-handed approach to the negotiations, and are said to be about to begin exploring other places to play this season, such as in the IHL. Niedermayer went that route during his 1998 lockout, and although he didn’t enjoy it, managed to keep in game shape that way.
Both Arnott and Niedermayer have been barred from Devil training camp while unsigned, a continuation of the lockout policy Lamoriello instituted several seasons ago.
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Coach Larry Robinson says he “can’t wait until the exhibition games,” when he can really begin evaluating some of his young prospects. He said he’s wary of brawling that marred a rookie tourney last month, and will remind players that they impress with skills, not by “beating the crap out of each other.”
Devils open preseason Saturday in Wilkes-Barre against the Penguins and visit Detroit Sunday. … Robinson also said that players who made the effort and commitment to attend Vladimir Bure’s summertime conditioning program in New Jersey would merit an extra look in camp. Those players included Pierre Dagenais, Willie Mitchell, Mike Commodore, Steve Kelly and Stanislav Gron in addition to regulars Scott Gomez, Sergei Brylin and Colin White.
