Nashville Predators Midseason Grades: Viktor Arvidsson

There’s several players on the Nashville Predators who have been rightfully the subject of scrutiny this season, and Viktor Arvidsson is certainly one of them.

Arvidsson has been a part of the core of the Nashville Predators since the 2015-16 season when he broke through to play 56 games and notch 16 points. He quick rose to become a fan-favorite after that, but it’s been a gradual decline going back to 2019.

If the Predators are going to miraculously dig their way out of the hole they’re in for a playoff spot, Arvidsson will have to dramatically improve his impact on the offense.

Little offensive impact from Arvidsson

When you look over Arvidsson’s first half of the current season, what you see is a player that’s piling up the shots on goal, but just can’t turn those into actual goals.

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Arvidsson’s shooting percentage is a putrid four percent through the first 30 games, and was just as bad before the official midway point. This is a crazy stat to see considering his career shooting percentage is above 11 percent, and just two seasons ago he posted a 17.4 shooting percentage.

I’ve been waiting all season to see Arvidsson’s shooting percentage rise back up to reality, but it just hasn’t happened. He is showing modest improvement in some areas of his game in recent games.

The Predators are a team in flux as the trade deadline gets closer. Arvidsson is a player that many fans would be just fine with parting ways with assuming the return makes sense. He’s just not the jolt of offensive energy that he once was.

Arvidsson has also had a hard time finding his place in the lineup. With the emergence of Eeli Tolvanen and Filip Forsberg as a duo, it’s made it challenging to find a spot for Arvidsson.

Most recently Arvidsson has been seeing time with Calle Jarnkrok and Mikael Granlund, which I think might be the best line combination he can be a part of.  On that note, I don’t want to see Forsberg, Arvidsson and Ryan Johansen on the same line anymore. That ship sailed a long time ago.

Arvidsson’s first half of the season is average at best, and even that’s a reach. I love his aggression and desire to not give up on the season. He’s remained a hungry player on the offensive end, and you have to think his luck turns around some and more goals will go his way.

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Even with Arvidsson’s struggles being well-noted, he still has 14 points, which is sadly good for fourth on the team. It speaks to the offensive issues this team has, and not so much a crowning achievement for Arvidsson.

The only reason I give Arvidsson an average grade is his hustle and his ability to get a lot of shots on goal to at least create chances for rebounds. He only trails Forsberg for the team’s lead in shots on goal, and there’s a huge gap between those two and the next player which is a currently injured Roman Josi.

If Arvidsson’s scoring luck can turn around, we’ll be having a much different conversation two months from now on how he finished the season strong. We need more of this from Arvidsson:

Will the Predators get a good offer for Arvidsson? They should jump all over trading him if possible. However,

with three years still left on this current deal

, I don’t have much confidence that there will be too many buyers.

At age 27, Arvidsson should be enjoying the peak years of his career and still be a formidable offensive player. It hasn’t happened in the first half of this season, and I’m not so sure he’ll ever return to that former level of being a 30-goal plus scorer ever again for the Predators.