The free-agency market may be drying up, but the Boston Bruins found another way to add a forward. The team announced on Tuesday that is has acquired winger Viktor Arvidsson from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a 2027 fifth-round pick.
Arvidsson, 32, has one year left on his contract and carries a $4 million cap hit. The right shot from Sweden has been a productive forward in the past, but missed significant time due to injury in 2023-24 (playing just 18 games that season) with the Los Angeles Kings and then never really found his footing this past season in Edmonton, recording 27 points (15 goals, 12 assists) in 67 games. He added seven points (2g, 5a) in 15 playoff games.
Arvidsson dealt with back and lower-body injuries in 2023-24, and then also missed 15 games this year after taking a shot off the foot.
In his last fully healthy season, in 2022-23 in LA, he did have 59 points (26g, 33a) in 77 games. That was the fifth time he had topped 20 goals in his career, and the third time he had topped 50 points.
Arvidsson shoots a lot (nearly 3 shots on goal per game for his career) and is a good but not great finisher. He can also create offense off the rush and is good on offensive-zone entries, an area of the Bruins’ game that new head coach Marco Sturm has said the team needs to improve.
Sturm knowns Arvidsson well, as he was an assistant coach with the Kings during Arvidsson’s first season there in 2021-22.
The Bruins likely view Arvidsson as a middle-six winger, something they desperately needed. In a perfect world, they would still add a more bona fide top-six forward and slot Arvidsson in on the third line, but it remains to be seen if they will be able to do that in an extremely thin free-agent market. Free agency opens Tuesday at noon.