Nashville Predators: Worst-case scenarios for the Predators

Arvidsson Struggles

Let us be honest. The success of the JoFa line was because of the emergence of Viktor Arvidsson. Yes, Filip Forsberg and Johansen are great players, worthy of top 50 consideration. However, the scoring threat that is Arvidsson opened up the entire offense.

Arvidsson allowed Peter Laviolette to place Kevin Fiala on the third line.

Is there a “sophomore slump?” Maybe. If you look at some players from year their freshman to sophomore years in the league, you will see slight declines. Like, Patrick Kane, who scored 72 and 70 points in his first two seasons, respectively.

Others, more significant downturns. Like, Jeff Skinner. In his first season, he scored  64 points. However, he only notched 44 points in year two. However, he did miss 18 games due to injury.

Then, there are those that explode in their second year. Exhibit A: Evgeni Malkin. Exhibit B: Connor McDavid.

Will Arvidsson be Exhibit C? We certainly hope so.