Black Walnut Cracker

As they seek a return to the Stanley Cup Final, the Edmonton Oilers added more scoring help Monday by signing forward Viktor Arvidsson to a two-year contract worth $4 million annually.

Signing Arvidsson addresses a serious need for the Oilers a week after they lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers after falling to a 3-0 series hole.

The Oilers entered the offseason with Adam Henrique, Warren Foegele and Mattias Janmark among the seven forwards who were pending unrestricted free agents, which created urgency to fill those potential departures. The Oilers did re-sign one of those forwards, with Connor Brown returning on a one-year deal worth $1 million.

Arvidsson, 31, finished 2023-24 with six goals and 15 points in 18 games for the Los Angeles Kings. He missed the first 50 games after having back surgery in October before being moved to long-term injured reserve in February with a lower-body injury.

He returned for the playoffs for the Kings and had three points in a five-game loss to the Oilers.

Arvidsson provides the Oilers with a scoring winger who has recorded five seasons of more than 20 goals while having a pair of 30-goal seasons when he was with the Nashville Predators. He would help provide secondary offense beyond what they have in a pair of Hart Trophy winners in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

He was in the final season of a seven-year contract worth $4.25 million annually that he signed when he was with the Predators. He was then traded to the Kings for the final three seasons of that deal.

Part of what made getting Arvidsson appealing for the Kings was receiving a top-six winger who could potentially help them escape the first round for the first time since 2013-14, the year they won their second Stanley Cup.

Instead the Kings failed to get out of the first round during Arvidsson's time with them as they lost to the Oilers all three years.

CapFriendly projects the Oilers have $6.93 million in projected salary cap space, part of which was made available when they created flexibility by buying out goaltender Jack Campbell with three more years remaining on his contract.