Red Wings Add Forward Arvidsson on Two-Year Deal

The Detroit Red Wings signed veteran forward Viktor Arvidsson to a two-year deal on Wednesday.

The contract, which has yet to be officially announced, reportedly carries a $5 million salary cap hit.

Arvidsson’s 25 goals with the Boston Bruins last season would have tied him with Lucas Raymond for third on the Red Wings. His 54 points would have been sixth. That scoring came in 69 games played.

This feels like a signing to replace Patrick Kane. With Kane seemingly in no rush to return, I’m okay with that. With bonuses included, Kane’s contract came out to $7 million last season, so this is a cheaper deal even with the rising salary cap.

A lot of the focus early this offseason (before the Dylan Larkin trade request became known) was about Detroit getting harder to play against. They also still need to score. If Kane departs, his scoring has to be replaced somehow, and this could be a reasonable way of doing so.

That said, Arvidsson has rarely cracked 50 points in a season in his career. Is his scoring in Boston an outlier or the new norm? This could very easily be a Vladimir Tarasenko situation, where a free agent signee is expected to bring offense that doesn’t materialize. In that case, the $5 million would look pretty bad, but it’s still a low-risk deal at only two years.

On the frivolous side of things, Arvidsson usually wears #33. With Sebastian Cossa off to Utah, I’d imagine he gets that number. But he did wear #71 in Boston last year and if Larkin gets his wish and is shipped out, it’d be kind of funny to immediately hand out his number.