Bruins to acquire Viktor Arvidsson from Oilers

The Bruins are set to add some extra depth on the wing.  Irfaan Gafaar reports (Twitter link) that Boston will be acquiring Viktor Arvidsson from Edmonton; David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period adds (Twitter link) that the veteran has waived his no-trade clause to facilitate the move.  TSN’s Ryan Rishaug relays (Twitter link) that Edmonton will receive a 2027 fifth-round pick in return.

The 32-year-old was brought in last summer by team president Jeff Jackson who was serving as interim GM at the time in a move to try to shore up their secondary scoring.  Given Arvidsson’s track record, the move made some sense on paper although it helped put the Oilers in the cap bind that ultimately cost them Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg to offer sheets from St. Louis soon after.

While Arvidsson was productive in limited action after returning from injury in 2023-24 with 15 points in 18 games, he wasn’t able to produce at that same level with Edmonton.  He notched 15 goals and 12 assists in 67 regular season games with Edmonton while adding two goals and five helpers in 15 playoff contests while also spending time as a healthy scratch.

With Arvidsson having one year left on his contract with a $4MM cap charge, it was widely expected that the Oilers would be looking to move him to open up some much-needed cap flexibility on their end.  They’ve done just that and the Bruins are taking on the full contract without any salary retention.

Given the low-cost return, this is an interesting move for Boston.  GM Don Sweeney hasn’t hidden his expectation of getting the Bruins back to the playoffs but with a UFA market that’s thinning quite quickly, taking a flyer on a one-year add over a multi-year addition works from a flexibility standpoint.

While Arvidsson is coming off a down year, he has five seasons of at least 20 goals under his belt.  With Boston being a team that was 27th in goals scored last season, adding someone with a decent track record of production certainly makes sense.  And if the Bruins aren’t able to get back into the playoff mix, he’d make sense as a late-season trade candidate for a team looking to add some winger depth, putting Boston in a position to get back what they gave up to get him (or perhaps even more, depending on the state of the market).

From a cap perspective, Edmonton went from having barely $550K in cap space before the swap, per PuckPedia, to $4.55MM at their disposal.  That will give GM Stan Bowman some flexibility to work with on the open market as he looks to add an upgrade or two.  Meanwhile, Boston came into the day with around $12.7MM in room, per PuckPedia, with that amount being cut to $8.7MM with this swap.  Sweeney has a few roster spots that still need to be filled with that money but that’s still ample flexibility to try to do so.