The Edmonton Oilers have always had issues regarding depth on their right wing.

It’s led the team to numerous blunders over the year, highlighted by players like Alex Chiasson, Kailer Yamamoto, Jesse Puljujarvi, Zack Kassian and most recently Warren Foegele, all of whom never worked out in Edmonton for one reason or another.

That’s why the Oilers signing of Viktor Arvidsson to a two-year, $4-million AAV deal is so important for the team.

Over the last three years, he’s found himself to be one of the most proficient scorers among right wingers in the league. He’s scored 28 five-on-five goals and 70 points across 2,192 minutes and 161 games, despite missing chunks of each season. Among 62 right wingers who have played over 2100 five-on-five minutes in the last three seasons, his 0.77 goals per hour rank 37th, his 1.15 assists per hour rank 23rd, while his 1.92 points per hour rank 28th.

He’s shot for volume over that stretch, taking 10.97 shots per hour, third-most among the aforementioned players, but his 6.98 percent shooting percentage ranks 61st out of 62. Couple that with a 0.89 individual expected goals per hour rate, 13th best, and you have the makings of a player who is due for some breakout scoring.

His offensive numbers put him right in the mix among Oilers’ top six players from the past three years, but that’s only part of the reason he’s a player they coveted in free agency, as his defensive acumen has been sharp. Looking back at how his defensive numbers rank among those 62 right wingers across the league, his 54.46 shot attempts against per hour rank 18th, his 54.34 percent shot attempt share ranks 10th, his 2.44 goals against per hour rank 24th, while his 52.66 percent goal share ranks 30th. In addition, his 54.78 percent expected goal share ranks sixth.

For many reasons, these numbers are significant, because the Oilers are banking on him not only being a Warren Foegele replacement in the lineup, but an upgrade over him, too, despite playing opposite wings.

For reference, here’s a look at this production and contributions over the last three years.

The numbers are a wash in many places, but where Arvidsson has shined above Foegele in recent years has been in the production categories. Arvidsson has higher goal for, against and share rates than Foegele, while also generating higher point production, shot volume, and scoring chances per hour. While some of these are minor increases, the Oilers are banking on Arvidsson helping convert on offence that Foegele struggled to.

Edmonton had a clear goal in mind this offseason: get Leon Draisaitl some help on the second line, and that appears to be what they’ve done not only in signing Skinner to his one-year, $3-million deal, but Arvidsson, as well.

Couple that with the fact that as the playoffs got deeper and deeper, there was more and more chatter about the Oilers not having steady wingers on the second line. Draisaitl found himself playing lots with Evander Kane earlier in the playoffs, and Holloway more as they went on, and both players never quite seemed to gel with the German.

Kane has the ability to score in bunches, but those bunches became less frequent the more the season dragged on, and the more apparent it was that he was dealing with an injury, which he revealed to be a sports hernia issue, while CEO Jeff Jackson called it a hip issue. Holloway, meanwhile, is still raw as an NHL player at 22-years-old, and despite scoring five goals and seven points in 25 playoff games, with three goals against the Panthers in the finals while he was in the top-six, he’s still an unproven player.

For a team looking to make another deep playoff run to win the Stanley Cup instead of getting a participation badge, the Oilers need bonafide players, and that’s what Arvidsson has done. He’s produced at a high rate in the Los Angeles Kings’ top six since he arrived, playing most often with Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore, and now that’s what the Oilers will look for him to do this season.

When it comes to locks in the lineup, I envision Arvidsson being a slam-dunk to lineup on Draisaitl’s right side in what should be a productive season.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.