By: Tom Calautti | Follow me on Twitter/X @TCalauttis
To trade or not to trade, that is the question the Boston Bruins face when it comes to Viktor Arvidsson. With the trade deadline just two weeks away and a mad dash to the playoffs close by, time is almost up for management to decide how they will handle one of their most movable assets.
Before we get into the why and why not of moving Arvidsson, let’s take a look at his player profile. It’s important to understand exactly what kind of asset the Bruins have on their hands, and what he may be worth on the market.
The Swedish winger is 32 going on 33 and is in the last season of a two-year, $8 million deal that includes a full no-movement clause. Over the course of his 11-year career, he’s complied 208-209-417 in 658 games. He’s topped the 20-goal plateau five times and maxed out at 30 goals once.
Arvidsson also has extensive playoff experience. He’s made it to the postseason in nine of the 11 years he’s played, six times with Nashville, twice with LA, and once with Edmonton. In that time, he notched 15-29-44 across 87 games and competed for the Stanley Cup in 2017 and 2025.
This season for Boston, he’s posted 14-14-28 over the course of 45 games. If he stayed healthy the entire season, that puts his 82-game point pace at 26-26-52.
So, looking at his overall profile, Arvidsson can be defined as a veteran scoring winger who can give you 20+ goals, contribute on the power play, and has a litany of playoff experience. Simply put, he’s the kind of player almost every contending team could use to bolster their offense and strengthen their team ahead of the playoffs. The big question is, come March 6th, will he be doing that in Boston or someone else?
Make the Trade
When it comes to Arvidsson’s future in Boston, it’s easy to see why trading him makes so much sense. He’s a pending unrestricted free agent who’s north of 30 and should be able to fetch a solid return of draft picks and prospects to help bolster your asset pool. At the beginning of this season, I would’ve said it’s almost a no-brainer that General Manager Don Sweeney sells off Arvidsson at the deadline for draft capital.
Players of Arvidsson’s caliber (over 30 goal-scorers with playoff experience) have fetched a nice return in the past, and there’s no reason to think that wouldn’t be the case this season.
Last season, 35-year-old Gustav Nyquist (9-12-21 in 57 pre-deadline games) was acquired by the Minnesota Wild for a 2nd-round pick. In the summer of 2024, the New York Rangers traded a 2nd- and 5th-round pick for then-32-year-old Reilly Smith (following a 40-point season). In 2023, a 30-year-old Nino Niederreiter (18-10-28 in 56 pre-deadline games) was traded from Nashville to Winnipeg for a second-rounder.
So there is precedent for this kind of trade with this kind of player. NHL history tells us that Sweeney can start the conversation at a second-round pick, and (assuming Arvidsson waives his no-movement clause) the bidding war can go from there. That way, the Bruins turn an expiring contract that they acquired for just a fifth-round pick into potentially a second-rounder and more, which they can use to build for the future. This may seem like straightforward business, but there’s also a valid case for keeping Arvidsson around.
Keep the Band Together
The Boston Bruins’ bounce-back has been one of the biggest surprises of this NHL season. David Pastrnak has continued his dominance as one of the league’s top-winners, Jeremy Swayman has re-established himself as an upper-echelon goaltender, and Charlie McAvoy has recovered from his injuries and restored his image as one of the best defenders in the league.
On top of that, the Black and Gold have seen some other promising developments on their roster. Morgan Geekie has established himself as an elite goal-scorer, Fraser Minten looks better with every passing game, Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm have improved drastically from last season, and Marat Khusnutdinov has turned into a valuable contributor.
One has to wonder what trading a player like Arvidsson would do to the morale of that locker room in the midst of a playoff race. Shouldn’t the current iteration of the Boston Bruins get rewarded for clawing their way into a playoff spot after the trials and tribulations of this season? Trading Arvidsson may be the logical move, but it’s a tough sell for Don Sweeney to look Pastrnak, McAvoy, and others in the face and tell them they’re in ‘sell mode’ after all the good the team has done this year.
The other mitigating factor in all of this is Arvidsson’s no-movement clause. We saw in the blockbuster Artemi Panarin deal before the Olympic roster freeze that those pesky no-trades can really muck up the inner workings of a trade. So much so that a perennial 90-point forward can be dealt for only a third-round pick and a prospect.
If the Bruins tell Arvidsson he’s being moved, he could simply decide to dictate where and when he moves. That would hamstring Sweeney’s negotiating power, and soon enough, the second-round-plus package becomes a LOT less enticing.
I’m still not sure which direction the Bruins will go with Arvidsson. Given the last-minute nature of the previous year’s deadline, maybe neither do they. All I’m saying is there are points to be made against trading the seventh-leading scorer, and whatever decision they do come to could have major ramifications for both the present and the future.
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