There’s little doubt in my mind that Viktor Arvidsson is a complementary scoring threat when he’s healthy and able to play. The problem, of course, is that he’s been out of the Edmonton Oilers lineup for nearly a month, and we still don’t know when he’ll be back.

The last time Arvidsson suited up was on Nov. 12 against the New York Islanders, and he was listed as day-to-day from then on. At the time, Kris Knoblauch said he had a “50-50 chance” to play against the Predators on Nov. 14, but we haven’t heard much since. That lack of clarity has left Oilers fans wondering when or if we will see him back in the lineup, and today’s update from Knoblauch certainly didn’t help.

“It hasn’t quite healed the way we assumed it would have,” Knoblauch said after Thursday’s morning skate. Yikes.

A lot of us Oilers fans were concerned when the team signed Arvidsson to a two-year deal on July 1 that his body wouldn’t hold up, given the struggles with his back that he’s battled over the last year. Arvidsson only played 18 games last year with the Kings due to a back injury, and my ultimate concern is that he’s still struggling with the same issue.

If you don’t remember, Arvidsson missed the first 50 games of the 2023–24 season while recovering from a back injury. The veteran winger made his season debut against the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 15 but then suffered a lower-body injury against the Columbus Blue Jackets only five days later, keeping him out of the lineup until late in the season.

While Arvidsson did play in all five playoff games for the Kings before Edmonton eliminated them in the first round, his health issues seem to have carried over into 2024–25. To this point, he’s only played in 16 games for the Oilers, producing a mediocre two goals and three assists. That’s certainly not what the team had in mind when they signed him to a two-year contract with a $4-million AAV.

Before arriving in Edmonton, Arvidsson had contributed offence at a second-line rate in each of the last six seasons, according to HockeyViz.com, but we have yet to see much of that upside. With only 16 games and five points under his belt so far, it’s hard not to wonder if those dollars could have been better served elsewhere.

Then again, maybe I’m just being too doom and gloom given today’s news, but I also don’t know that I am. Seeing as the team invested $8 million into the player, I think it’s fair to say this was not what anyone was hoping for — despite knowing there was a risk of re-injury. Now on the shelf with no timeline for his return, the Arvidsson story will only get deeper from here.

Whether fair or not, the Oilers are a Stanley Cup contender pressed right up against the salary cap, and they don’t have the luxury of hoping things will improve. While there’s little doubt in my mind that Arvidsson can be an incredibly impactful player when healthy, we haven’t seen that yet and don’t know when or if it will happen.

This injury is a tough situation for an Oilers team that has high expectations after making it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. If we knew then what we know now, would the decision to sign him have been different? Would the team have been better served keeping a younger, less-proven player like Dylan Holloway, knowing he’d probably be in the lineup every night?

Those questions are rolling around in my head right now, and I’d be lying if I said I saw this coming when the contract was announced. Unfortunately, at this point, this injury is a major concern from my perspective, and I would bet all of Gregor’s money that I’m not alone in feeling that way. As always, I’m hoping for the best regarding Arvidsson’s health, but these last few weeks haven’t exactly inspired warm and fuzzy feelings about his situation.

Arvidsson, 31, spent the last three seasons with the Kings, scoring 52 goals and 123 points in 161 games after spending the first seven years of his career with the Nashville Predators, where he tallied 127 goals and 239 points in 385 games.

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