Boston Bruins
With four games before the NHL trade deadline, the Bruins need to make a ruling on several assets.
Just hours after the Bruins pried him out of Edmonton via trade, Viktor Arvidsson was candid about what he was looking to bring to a seemingly rebuilding Boston roster.
“I’m gonna come there, I’m gonna play a responsible game, and I think Marco [Sturm] knows exactly what he’s getting from me,” Arvidsson told reporters on July 1, 2025, a few hours after Boston parted with just a 2027 fifth-round pick to acquire him from a cap-crunched Oilers squad.
“I’m gonna help offensively and bring scoring. I know I can do that. I know I had a little bit of a tough time last year with that and the opportunity. I’m gonna bring that, I know that. I’m really confident that I’m gonna make the team better.”
For all of the concerns over whether the veteran’s lethal wrist shot had waned, the former 30-goal threat has been a conduit of offensive production for Boston.
After tallying just 15 goals and 27 total points on a high-octane Edmonton roster last season, the 32-year-old Arvidsson has tallied 14 goals and 28 points over 45 games.
A fleet-footed forechecker, Arvidsson’s willingness to muck things up down low and create chaos — despite his 5-foot-10 frame — has allowed a second line featuring him, Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittelstadt to thrive as a regular threat in Sturm’s forward grouping.
Only David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie have more 5-on-5 points on Boston’s roster than Arvidsson’s 21.
In a season where several unheralded players have punched above their weight to put Boston right in the thick of a playoff race, acquiring Arvidsson stands as one of Don Sweeney’s craftiest dealings.
For just the cost of that fifth-round pick, the Bruins acquired a low-risk, high-reward talent in Arvidsson who could conceivably be flipped at the 2026 trade deadline for the right price.
Similar to the Celtics acquiring a talented scorer on an expiring contract in Anfernee Simons, a pending UFA in Arvidsson felt like a similar asset for the Bruins — a future trade chip whose true value rested in what his club could get for him down the road.
So long as Arvidsson regained his form as a crafty middle-six scoring winger, a 2025-26 Bruins seemingly staring at a bridge season could likely flip him for a second or third-round pick come March 2026 to further add to their now stocked cupboard of draft capital.
As Sweeney and the Bruins had hoped for, Arvidsson has recouped his standing as a legitimate scoring threat.
But, the 2025-26 Bruins aren’t exactly staring at another lost season.
Returning from the Olympic break, Boston sits in the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference at 32-20-5.
According to MoneyPuck’s playoff odds, the Bruins have a 61 percent chance of making the postseason.
That’s far from a lock, with four points separating Boston from the teams just outside of the playoff picture in Columbus (Thursday’s opponent at TD Garden) and the Capitals.
But, the Bruins are 12-2-3 since Dec. 31, 2025, and just three points sit between Boston and second place in the Atlantic Division.
It presents an interesting conundrum for Sweeney and the Bruins, especially with only four more games separating Boston from the league’s March 6 trade deadline.
Do the Bruins continue to acquire assets by selling off pending free agents like Arvidsson?
Will they buy — ideally searching for players who benefit both the 2025-26 team and beyond (similar to Rasmus Andersson), rather than relinquish picks for pure rentals?
Perhaps they choose to do a bit of both.
Boston could just stay the course, keep their picks, and let a blue-chip prospect like James Hagens be the team’s de-facto addition ahead of a potential playoff push this spring.
From a pure business perspective, turning a 2027 fifth-round pick into a 2026 second-round selection by flipping Arvidsson to a Cup contender would be solid asset management — especially if the Bruins aren’t viewing Arvidsson as a long-term investment after this season.
But, it will likely be a tough sell for a Bruins dressing room that not only values Arvidsson’s veteran mettle and production, but would also be penalized for exceeding expectations in Sturm’s first year at the helm.
Sturm has regularly sung the praises of Arvidsson’s impact with the Bruins, who are 28-13-4 when he’s in the lineup. In the 12 games he’s missed due to injury, they’re just 4-7-1.
“There’s a reason why I wanted him,” Sturm said after Boston’s Stadium Series loss to Tampa earlier this month, adding: “He’s just a very good motor for us. Doesn’t matter the size. He just wants to be the best and wants to win very, very badly. … He drags other guys with him, and I think that’s something you have or not. … I’m glad to see that he brings a guy like Zacha and Mittelstadt to the grind. And that’s why that line has been so good.”
As tempting as adding another draft pick might be, taking Arvidsson off this team would severely hamper a Bruins team that still remains firmly in the playoff picture.
A line of Mittelstadt-Zacha-Arvidsson has arguably been one of the more underrated forward trios in the NHL this season, with Boston outscoring opponents, 21-11, in 354 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time together.
An in-house replacement like Fabian Lysell likely won’t suffice if the Bruins are really trying to punch their ticket to the postseason, nor would Boston likely want to throw Hagens into a top-six role right away.
Keeping Arvidsson would preclude Boston from adding another draft pick, while there’s no guarantee that a playoff run in 2026 would lead to postseason bouts in May or June — not at this stage of Boston’s retool.
Still, the Bruins should view a playoff appearance in 2026 as positive progress for a young roster seemingly already well ahead of schedule. Boston’s prospect pipeline and draft stockpile is already in good shape between four first-round picks in the next two years and several youngsters thriving like Hagens, Dean Letourenau, and Will Zellers.
A playoff run this spring likely dissipates if Arvidsson is shipped out by next week.
It remains to be seen if keeping Arvidsson beyond this season is a wise move for a Bruins team seemingly on the right track toward retrofitting a contending roster.
But, trading him for a draft pick would also seemingly scuttle what has already been a major step forward for Boston so far in 2025-26.
With 11 days to go until the trade deadline, time is running out for Sweeney and his staff to choose the proper path forward for Boston.
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