Player Discussion Viktor Arvidsson

[Duke74]

Nah. We need him going now. He’s not a fit here. I’d argue that he’s even less a fit than Jeff Skinner. But even if you want to call their performances this season roughly equal, Skinner is cheaper, only signed for this season and has a NMC. Arvidsson - more expensive, signed for another year and doesn’t have the NMC.

I agree for sure that one of these guys has to go before or at the deadline. It’s too much wasted cap. It seems like kind of a no-brainer which one you move on from. I’d rather keep Jeff Skinner.

Plus Skinner has been relegated to the fourth line or the pressbox for much of the year. Imagine Skinner's production glued to one of our superstar centers.

 

[Shanahanigans]

It kind of feels like the game is starting to pass him by. He's like half a second late on every play. I don't mean his skating, which is fine, but his processing of the game seems slowed, so he can't get pucks where he wants to get them, misses his spots, etc. Stark contrast to a guy like Perry, who is much slower, but thinks the game at an elite level and thus can make plays as he wants.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

His decline in production raises the question of who scouted him and what did they see? Virtually most players the Oilers acquire see a decline in their production. Hyman and Ekholm feel like the exceptions but there's a laundry list of players that see their totals fall off pretty hard when they don an Oiler jersey. Some who leave also see their totals increase which just raises further questions.

 

[VeteranPresence]

His decline in production raises the question of who scouted him and what did they see?

 

[Shanahanigans]

His decline in production raises the question of who scouted him and what did they see? Virtually most players the Oilers acquire see a decline in their production. Hyman and Ekholm feel like the exceptions but there's a laundry list of players that see their totals fall off pretty hard when they don an Oiler jersey. Some who leave also see their totals increase which just raises further questions.

Easy- unless you're Mcdavid, Drai, Mackinnon, Crosby, etc- most NHL forwards follow a similar trajectory. Their most productive years are between 24-29, then a slow decline from 30-34, then a faster decline 35+. The guys that have been underwhelming- Skinner, Arvidsson, Henrique, are all 32-34, all in line with average player decline. Even Kane's decline the last year could be partially attributed to age, same thing we saw when Lucic was here. The guys who left- Mcleod, Foegele, Holloway, are all 23-28- a forward's prime. When we traded away Hall and Eberle they were in their mid 20s too, no surprise they continued to produce until (surprise!) they hit their early 30s.

We develop players for other teams, give them away as they hit their prime, then sign players who's offensive prime has passed them and wonder why they don't produce like they did. Nobody defeats time, nobody.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Easy- unless you're Mcdavid, Drai, Mackinnon, Crosby, etc- most NHL forwards follow a similar trajectory. Their most productive years are between 24-29, then a slow decline from 30-34, then a faster decline 35+. The guys that have been underwhelming- Skinner, Arvidsson, Henrique, are all 32-34, all in line with average player decline. Even Kane's decline the last year could be partially attributed to age, same thing we saw when Lucic was here. The guys who left- Mcleod, Foegele, Holloway, are all 23-28- a forward's prime. When we traded away Hall and Eberle they were in their mid 20s too, no surprise they continued to produce until (surprise!) they hit their early 30s.

We develop players for other teams, give them away as they hit their prime, then sign players who's offensive prime has passed them and wonder why they don't produce like they did. Nobody defeats time, nobody.

I don't think that you're entirely wrong about this. There definitely does seem be a favouritism towards veteran players. That being said Perry is at least exceeding expectations but most of the other veteran forwards are a disappointment this year.

 

[Heavy Dee]

He might be a buyout candidate the way he is playing.

 

[thadd]

He might be a buyout candidate the way he is playing.

I agree.

Only way we don't buy him out is if someone accepts him with 1/2 retention. The questions is whether he's worth 2M per season at this point.

 

[Stauf4Prez]

Just not effective on this team.

 

[brentashton]

I think Arvidsson would be much more effective playing a north/south energy role on the third line.

Do you think he would be serviceable in that role? I focussed on him a lot in the past two games and I am surprised how poor of a skater he is. Not good.

 

[McDNicks17]

View attachment 972281

Yeah, the guy they hired after the signing scouted him...

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

40 year old Corey Perry is clowning his guy...that should be embarrassing

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

40 year old Corey Perry is clowning his guy...that should be embarrassing

He's clowning basically every forward that isn't McDavid, Draisatl, RNH and Hyman. That's great for Perry but pretty bad for everyone else.

 

[K1984]

Do you think he would be serviceable in that role? I focussed on him a lot in the past two games and I am surprised how poor of a skater he is. Not good.

He falls down a ton, but I think he's fine if he plays a simplistic style of game where all he needs to do is skate north/south and get to the net. Playing with Leon is complicated and I don't think he's made for it. He doesn't play an east/west game very well.

 

[brentashton]

He falls down a ton, but I think he's fine if he plays a simplistic style of game where all he needs to do is skate north/south and get to the net. Playing with Leon is complicated and I don't think he's made for it. He doesn't play an east/west game very well.

Thank you .

 

[Arpeggio]

I don't really understand why they haven't given either Arvidsson or Skinner much of a look with McDavid. Arvidsson could play with McDavid and Hyman if you really don't want to break up those two.

Another thing to consider is that not only is Arvidsson's shooting percentage down from his career average, but he also is getting 0 PP time. At some point, if the Oilers want these old guys to consider signing here to boost their value, they're going to have to consider giving other guys opportunities on the PP. Because that will just kill your offensive numbers as an offensive winger. Arvidsson usually scores ~4 PP goals a year, and has around 10 pp points a year. Skinner had 8 pp goals last season. Both are playing significantly less minutes than they have over the last 5-6 years of their careers.

We can't keep signing offensive players, give them no PP minutes, shave 3 minutes off their average ice time, and then ask why their offensive numbers are down from before they were Oilers.

 

[guymez]

Easy- unless you're Mcdavid, Drai, Mackinnon, Crosby, etc- most NHL forwards follow a similar trajectory. Their most productive years are between 24-29, then a slow decline from 30-34, then a faster decline 35+. The guys that have been underwhelming- Skinner, Arvidsson, Henrique, are all 32-34, all in line with average player decline. Even Kane's decline the last year could be partially attributed to age, same thing we saw when Lucic was here. The guys who left- Mcleod, Foegele, Holloway, are all 23-28- a forward's prime. When we traded away Hall and Eberle they were in their mid 20s too, no surprise they continued to produce until (surprise!) they hit their early 30s.

We develop players for other teams, give them away as they hit their prime, then sign players who's offensive prime has passed them and wonder why they don't produce like they did. Nobody defeats time, nobody.

Good points which really underscores the issue of giving Holloways money to J Skinner.
I dont want to open up this debate again but it really grinds me that this team couldnt figure out that the player they drafted and developed was worth the risk. Instead they take a bigger risk and go with players outside of the organization on the downside of their career (ie Skinner)...and pay more for them.
It makes no f**king sense to me.