Twelve days after Radim Vrbata was told he was unwanted back with the Lightning, he and his agent have found a new home back in Phoenix where he enjoyed a breakthrough 27-goal season under coach Wayne Gretzky in 2007-08.

Vrbata, who has a $3-million cap hit this coming season and next, was traded to the Coyotes today for enforcer Todd Fedoruk and defenceman David Hale, who will make a combined $1.76-million this season. The move gets the Lightning out from under Vrbata's salary somewhat this season and more so a year later, when Hale is an unrestricted free agent.

"We spent a lot of time putting this deal together after we got permission from Brian (Lawton) to speak with other teams," said Vrbata's agent Rich Evans. "Phoenix was our target and we're really excited Radim ended up going back.

"They're a younger team ... bringing Radim back, a veteran guy who's had success with their younger guys previously, especially when he was playing with Hanzal, it's just a good fit for everybody. He's looking forward to getting back there."

The Lightning appear to be approaching this as a bit of a 'something for nothing' deal.

"We are pleased to make a trade today that makes good sense for both teams," Lawton said in a statement. "Lightning fans will be pleased to see we have added some size and toughness up front with Todd, while David helps us continue to add depth to our blue line. At the same time, Radim moves back to Phoenix where he has experienced some success in the past."

It's a pretty unique situation where the agent and player are charged with finding a home for a player on a bit of an oversized ticket, but I think there's a fairly strong argument that Vrbata was misused in his brief audition in Tampa. As I wrote earlier, when he was getting some significant ice time, he produced reasonably well, and looking back on his breakthrough season in Phoenix, he played more than 18 minutes a game, including significant minutes on the power play and penalty kill.

The Lightning, meanwhile, barely used him in the 18 games he played during the Barry Melrose circus.

Throughout his career, Vrbata's been a bit of a bubble player, but if you add up his totals when he plays at least 16 minutes a game (46 per cent of his career), he has put up 66 goals, 70 assists and 136 points in 203 games. On a prorated basis, that's a 27-goal season over 82 games.

When he's played more than 17 minutes a game, he's scored 54 goals in 147 games, or a 30-goal, 58-point pace.

In other words, don't be surprised if he plays decent minutes in the desert and has a return to form. They really need offence, likely missed out on the Alex Tanguay sweepstakes, and plan on using Vrbata in a bit way.

"We are very excited to bring Radim Vrbata back to Phoenix," said Coyotes GM Don Maloney.  "He had a career year for us in 2007-08 and is a talented forward who can help us offensively next season."

Here's a look at Vrbata's prorated goal-scoring rates based on minutes played:

In other words, in games he played 21 minutes or more, Vrbata scored at a 56-goal full season rate.

Now, obviously it stands to reason players are going to score more when they play more, but Vrbata's goals per 60 minute rates also escalate as he gets bigger minutes. Whether that's simply because he gets better linemates or more power play time in those games, I'm not 100-per-cent certain, but he is a useful player in the right situations and at just 28, should have a lot more years in the NHL.