When the Boston Bruins acquired forward Viktor Arvidsson from the Edmonton Oilers shortly before free agency began last summer, it was a move that first-year head coach Marco Sturm had a say in. Sturm was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings when Arvidsson was a player there.
The deal ended up being a good one as Boston sent a fourth-round draft pick to Edmonton for Arvidsson. As it turned out, Arvidsson was a key forward for the Black and Gold on the second line with Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittlestadt. Now that the season is over, he is one of the key decisions general manager Don Sweeney is facing this offseason as a free agent, and Arvidsson made his pitch to return with a new deal. However, it isn't that easy.
Viktor Arvidsson makes pitch to remain with Bruins
Things didn't start well for Arvidsson in Boston, but he took off as the season went along. In 69 regular-season games, he had 25 goals and 29 assists on the second line. He was a big part of the production they had. He only played in four of the six games against the Buffalo Sabres in the first round and had a pair of goals. He missed the last two games after taking a hit in Game 4.
He is up for a new deal and will get a pay raise from the $4 million he made this season. However, just how much higher Sweeney will go to get a new deal done remains to be seen. Arvidsson made it clear that returning to Boston is something he's in favor of.
“I had a lot of fun,” said Arvidsson. “I think coming from Edmonton last year, not having the best year behind me and I just loved the group we had and just we had so much fun together and that made it easier and it translated on the ice, too.
“I had so much fun and it was a great year and I’m happy to talk to Sweens about coming back and it’s just a lot of areas that need to be figured out with my family and stuff like that. You got to think about that too. But it’s like I said, I had fun and I really like it here, so I’m open to it.”
I'm sure Sweeney wants him back, but it's going to come down to the money. How much is Sweeney willing to go, and will Arvidsson think he can get more somewhere else? There are a lot of factors that will determine how this ends up early this summer.
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