The Los Angeles Kings have announced that winger Viktor Arvidsson will not be returning to Tuesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets due to a lower-body injury.
Arvidsson, 30, left the game early in the third period after tweaking something right off of the faceoff, only playing 17 seconds of one shift. There’s no further information the severity of it or how long he will be out of the lineup, but at the very least, the fact that the injury is a lower-body one indicates that it isn’t a back injury, something that has caused Arvidsson trouble already this season.
Tuesday’s game was just Arvidsson’s fourth this season, as he has missed most of the year after requiring back surgery at the start of training camp, with just 2 assists in those 4 games. He has played at least 70 games in a season just once since 2018-19, which came last season when he had 26 goals and 59 points.
When Arvidsson has been healthy, he’s been one of the more disciplined players in terms of drawing (and not taking) penalties. Since 2020-21, his 0.095 penalty goals above replacement per 60 minutes is 29th amongst forwards with at least 3,000 minutes of ice time.
Arvidsson was a fourth-round pick of the Nashville Predators in the 2014 NHL Draft, playing in Nashville for seven seasons before he was dealt to the Kings in the 2021 offseason for second and third round draft picks. He has since spent the last three seasons in Los Angeles.
Arvidsson is currently in the final year of a seven-year contract with a $4.25 million cap hit, and will be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career in the 2024 offseason.
Heading into Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jackets, the Kings sit in fourth in the Pacific Division with an 27-16-10 record, which is good enough for the first wild card spot in the Western Conference.
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