Edmonton Oilers sign Viktor Arvidsson to two-year contract at $4 million AAV

The Edmonton Oilers didn’t have much time to lick their wounds after losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final a week ago. They got to work Monday as 2024 unrestricted free agency launched, signing right winger Viktor Arvidsson to a two-year deal at a $4 million AAV, as reported by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.

Arvidsson, 31, is very feisty despite his 5-foot-10 and 185-pound frame and will give the Oilers a cost-effective scoring threat who can slot into their top six.

Arvidsson will never match his mini-peak from 2016-17 through 2018-19, in which he averaged 36 goals per 82 games with the Nashville Predators. But he can still play. A back injury requiring (a second) surgery limited him to just 18 games this past season, but he had 15 points in those games. In 161 contests as an L.A. King across the past three seasons, he averaged 26 goals and 63 points per 82 games. During that time, among 434 NHL forwards to play at least 1,000 minutes at 5-on-5, Arvidsson sits eighth in shots per 60 minutes and 14^th in individual scoring chances per 60. The injury history is a clear concern but also significantly lowered the cost, and the two-year term mitigates the risk.

Arvidsson gives the Oilers another option to play on one of their top three lines. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl remain their superstar pillars up the middle, and Arvidsson fits into the group that includes Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evander Kane, and Dylan Holloway.

Arvidsson was a fourth-round pick for the Predators in the 2014 NHL Draft. He spent the first seven seasons of his career in Nashville and sits seventh on the franchise’s goal list, having scored 127 of his 179 career tallies there.