Scott Arniel deemed "loser" and berated by Mike Commodore

"Been a loser his entire career": Mike Commodore rips into ex-coach Scott Arniel after Jets HC appointment

Modified May 26, 2024 10:35 GMT

Scott Arniel was appointed head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, replacing Rick Bowness. Arniel's ex-player from his time at Columbus Blue Jackets, Mike Commodore, did not take the news too well and berated the Jets' newest appointment.

Ex-NHLer Mike Commodore and Scott Arniel have a controversial history dating back to 2011, when they were part of the Columbus Blue Jackets franchise. Arniel was the head coach, and Commodore was playing as a defenseman, in what would be his penultimate season as an NHL player.

Hearing the news of Arniel's appointment as the Jets' new head coach, Commodore strongly criticized the appointment and ripped into his former head coach. In a frustrated tweet on X (formerly Twitter), he deemed Arniel's promotion a,

"Massive mistake by the Jets."

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Commodore berated Scott Arniel, called him a loser, and someone whose arrogance ruined everything. Commodore wrote:

"Scott Arniel is a loser. He’s been a loser his entire career. Got a chance years ago..his arrogance ruined everything..he’s spent the last 14 years with his nose up a**holes & his lips wrapped around b*lls. #Loser"

Also read: “This team just doesn’t want to win”: NHL fans react to Scott Arniel’s promotion as Jets’ new head coach

Scott Arniel's rocky relationship with Mike Commodore during their Columbus Blue Jacket Days

Mike Commodore was waived in January 2011 by the Columbus Blue Jackets, after he demanded a trade owing to multiple scratches by Scott Arniel. In a 2011 interview with The Columbus Dispatch, Commodore said Arniel wanted him out of Columbus despite being the highest-paid defenseman on the team. He was in the third year of his five-year, $18.75 million contract, which was signed in 2008.

Commodore criticized Arniel's decision to scratch him for seven games:

"I think it is personal. He (Arniel) says it isn't, but I have some serious doubts. It was frustrating at first. I'm not letting it frustrate me anymore. I just don't know what it is. (Arniel) wants me out of here."

After clearing waivers, Commodore was assigned to the AHL's Springfield Falcons. He played out the remainder of the AHL season, and at the start of the 2011-12 NHL free agency, he was picked up by Mike Babcock's Detroit Red Wings.

Commodore faced a similar fate with Babcock in Detroit, as he did with Scott Arniel. He was continuously scratched for multiple games, and was eventually traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He eventually ended up playing for KHL's Admiral Vladivostok for the 2013-14 season and then retired from professional hockey.

Per a 2013 article by Greg Wyshynski on Yahoo Sports, Mike Commodore spoke in detail about his troubling time with Scott Arniel at Columbus in an interview with KHL.hr. Commodore said:

“I'm very disappointed with how my last year in Columbus went and with my year in Detroit. I feel I was treated piss poor; I was thrown off the team in Columbus because I was single and I was making a lot of money."

Commodore alleged that Arniel decided to bench him due to personal reasons:

"The coach was jealous because he played a lot of years, he had a wife and kids and he felt he didn't earn a lot of money so he booted me off the team. The next year he started doing the same to Derick Brassard but he got fired before he could finish it.”