It has been a couple of down years in a row now for Viktor Arvidsson and the Nashville Predators are further away from the Stanley Cup now than they have been since their Cup run a few years ago. This team was going to have to make some moves this offseason, and it started on Canada Day with a trade to Los Angeles:

Remember that there was a chance of losing Arvidsson in the Expansion Draft, something brought up by our Alex MacLean elsewhere. In that sense, getting a second- and third-rounder in a flat-cap situation isn't a bad move from Nashville. It does leave them a bit thin in scoring, so let's see what this does for both teams.

Los Angeles

Out of the gate, it at least gives Los Angeles options. The last few years have seemingly been all Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown on the top line because, well, there just wasn't much talent in the lineup. Guys like Tanner Pearson or Adrian Kempe made an appearance once in a while, but not often.

Adding Arvidsson changes that. If the Kings want to stick him with Kopitar in a pseudo-shutdown role, that is one avenue. If they want to use Arvidsson with one of their younger centres like Kupari or Byfield in a scoring role, they can do that too. Of course, which role he lands in will change his fantasy outlook, but regardless of what he does at even strength, he should get top PP minutes. If he can get those top-line minutes, we could be looking at a TOI bump.

Kopitar is a top-end playmaker so there shouldn't be much issues with Arvidsson and a reasonable scoring rate, assuming he's on the top line. The issues arise if Arvidsson has to play with someone unproven like the young guys mentioned above. Can they provide him with the playmaking necessary to ensure 25 goals? Even 20? It is a fair question to ask and there's no answer right now.

Besides that, are the Kings getting the Arvidsson of the last two years or the Arvidsson of three years ago?

Some has been made about his drop in expected goals over the last couple years. It makes me wonder about his injury history. I also wonder about coaching tactics, because it sure seemed to me that almost every Nashville forward sacrificed offence so that Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis could have high point totals. There could be some lingering injury issues, but that is an unknowable for anyone but Arvidsson, really. The fact is this: Dustin Brown is a worse offensive player than Viktor Arvidsson yet Brown has played to a 20-goal pace for the last three years. Surely, Arvidsson can do something similar.

Nashville

This brings an end to the JOFA line, one of the more fun lines to watch of the last decade. But it does bring a bit of certainty to Eeli Tolvanen's role. While the team seemed to Yo-Yo his role a lot this year for some reason, he has shown a high ability to finish, and that's not something this team has a lot of. Hopefully, this means a permanent top-6, top-PP role for Tolvanen, a guy who scored at a 20-goal pace in his rookie year.

I think more than what it does to the guys on the roster – maybe more minutes for someone like Rocco Grimaldi as he solidifies a top-9 role – is what it says about their cap situation. They have Tolvanen and Juuse Saros as RFAs, but no monster contracts to hand out and over $22M in space to work with. They can go out and sign just about anyone they want if they want to keep trying for a Cup in the next 3-4 years. Or they can take on bad contracts from other teams to keep building for the future. It does open up some options.

But really, the offseason has barely started. There are going to be more moves coming from Nashville, so it's hard to say what the final impact will be until we see what they do.

Who this helps

Rocco Grimaldi

Rasmus Kupari

Viktor Arvidsson

Who this hurts

Ryan Johansen

Dustin Brown