Trades are never easy when it’s involving a player that you adore and respect like Viktor Arvidsson was for the Nashville Predators. Unfortunately, this can be a tough business, but you have to think about the greater good of the franchise.
The Predators made their first splash of the offseason on Thursday by trading Arvidsson to the Los Angeles Kings for two draft picks, with a second-round pick coming in 2021 and a third-round pick coming in 2022.
You really have to take your heart out of this decision and realize this makes total sense for the Predators to unload a player whose best days are long behind him, and to strike while you can with a quality return in the way of draft capital.
Nashville Predators made the wise decision
Alex Daugherty of AtoZSports summed it up very well in terms of Arvidsson’s decline after taking that nasty, and down right dirty, hit from Robert Bortuzzo back in November of 2019:
I hope Viktor Arvidsson regains his form in Los Angeles. But he really hasn’t been the same player since this moment: https://t.co/IfsyKrHV11
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) July 1, 2021
Arvidsson had an assist in that game where Bortuzzo took the cheapest of shots on him. Since then Arvidsson has scored just 22 goals in 91 games, including the playoffs. Five of those 22 goals came over two games, one being a hat trick this past season.
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Many argue that opposing defenders have figured out how to handle Arvidsson and his playing style of speed and crashing the net. He’s had much more trouble in recent years of finding space on the ice and getting high-quality shots on goal.
Arvidsson’s shooting percentage slumped to a putrid 6.6 percent in 2020-21, which is by far his lowest going all the way back to his rookie season in 2015-16 when he was slightly lower than that.
The Predators had to take this return and run with it, and I don’t blame them. Getting two draft picks, and one being in the upcoming draft in the second round, is a fairly decent return.
If anything, both sides should be feeling pretty good about the deal.
This move really made 100 percent logical sense when I saw what GM David Poile said regarding the Expansion Draft and where Arvidsson fit into that, per his interview with ESPN’s 102.5 The Game in Nashville:
Poile on expansion draft, cont'd: "If Viktor Arvidsson was not protected, he would've been taken by Seattle and that's who we would've lost... It definitely was a factor, not just losing Viktor for nothing."
— 102.5 & 106.3 The Game (@1025TheGame) July 1, 2021
So if Poile and the Predators were likely going to lose Arvidsson to expansion and the Seattle Kraken, then finding a trade partner in the Kings to get not one, but two, draft picks is brilliant navigating by Poile.
Even if Arvidsson rebounds to have a decent season with the Kings next season, I’ll still have a hard time ever thinking this move was foolish on Poile’s part.
Roster space is cleared up
Finally, I really like how this clears up roster space for someone else to step up next season. Who knows who that will be, but there are options.
Everyone has been clamoring for this youth movement, and now you have space to do that. The first player that comes to mind that can benefit from this is Rem Pitlick, another speedy player with an outstanding shot.
The logjam of aging forwards past their primes had to be cleared, and the very likeable and energetic Arvidsson was the easiest player to move for the best return. I know, there’s others you’d much rather move, but that’s going to take a lot more hoops to jump through for Poile.
There’s also cap space cleared up from this move, so Poile can be more aggressive once the expansion draft is behind us and free agency opens up.
Bottom line is this core has proven time and time again that it’s not going to win a Stanley Cup, Their window closed after the second-round loss to Winnipeg in 2018, but that’s just my humble opinion.
More roster movement and contract negotiating will really start ramping later in July, so get ready for the lineup to get shifted around even more.
As for Arvidsson, he just turned 28-years-old, so he absolutely has time to bounce back with a change of scenery and finish off what’s already been a respectable NHL career for a player of his size.