Ex-Predators captain Arnott roasts Suter: 'All he would do is complain'
Warning: Story contains coarse language.
Former Nashville Predators captain Jason Arnott was apparently not a big fan of his old teammate and current Dallas Stars defenseman Ryan Suter.
Arnott and Suter played together in Nashville for four seasons from 2006-07 to 2009-10. Arnott said Suter has attitude problems, especially in contrast to Shea Weber - who succeeded Arnott as the Predators' captain in 2010-11.
"The attitude of (Suter) was night and day to (Weber)," Arnott said on The Cam & Strick Podcast Tuesday. "All he would do is complain about how come he's not on the power play, how come he doesn't play enough, 'I can't believe this guy's making this much money.'
"(Weber), he was night and day," Arnott continued. "He wanted to learn, super respectful, played hard, so two different dynamics of mentality of players."
Predators general manager David Poile made his preference clear between the star defensemen during the summer of 2012. A 27-year-old Suter left Nashville as an unrestricted free agent, signing a 13-year, $98-million contract with the Minnesota Wild.
Twenty days later, the Predators matched a 14-year, $110-million offer sheet to keep the 26-year-old Weber.
Arnott also claims that Suter's attitude played a part in his departure from the Wild this past summer. Minnesota bought out the remaining four seasons of his contract in the offseason, leaving substantial dead cap hits on the books for the next three years.
"I heard he was a huge distraction in that (Wild) dressing room," Arnott said. "Knowing (general manager Bill Guerin), he's not putting up with that and he's cleaning house."
He added: "Now look at them. They have a phenomenal team without all that money and distraction."
The 37-year-old signed a four-year, $14.6-million contract with the Dallas Stars after getting bought out by the Wild.
Suter isn't the only member of the Stars that Arnott had an issue with in Nashville, though. Arnott also said that a young Alexander Radulov was a distraction.
"We'd be surrounded by (head coach Barry Trotz) doing a play on the board at practice and all you'd hear was 'ting, ting' and I looked down at the other end and (Radulov) was shooting pucks," Arnott said.
He added: "So I pulled him aside one day and I go 'you do that again and I'm gonna fucking tear your head off. Don't ever disrespect the team like that.'"
Despite stellar production, Radulov never stuck in Nashville. He played two seasons with the Preds from 2006-08, left for the KHL, returned to Nashville for nine games in 2011-12, then bolted back to the KHL for another four seasons. He returned to the NHL again with the Montreal Canadiens in 2016-17 and has now spent the last five years in Dallas.
Arnott spent 18 seasons in the NHL, including four with Nashville, and won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2000. He retired in 2013.