Where does Viktor Arvidsson fit in LA Kings lineup?

During Monday’s practice, Arvidsson skated alongside Alex Turcotte and Trevor Lewis in what would be a de facto fourth line.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where he’ll settle, but it could be where he starts.

Personally, I’m having a hard time viewing Blake Lizotte as a winger. Particularly one in the top nine. He’s established himself as such a good two-way fourth-line center I’m not quite sure I’m on board with him being a full-time winger if that is indeed the plan. While I understand the want to have Turcotte down the middle, he has more potential to have an impact on the wing, in my opinion.

As an aside – it’s worth noting that Turcotte did get dinged up during Tuesday’s game against Chicago:

For me, I think Arvidsson could be the perfect winger for Pierre-Luc Dubois.

First, on Dubois, this has been a season to forget in terms of his offensive production. But that isn’t to say there haven’t been positives. For starters, he’s been one of the team’s best rush threats this season:

Not only that, he’s also been one of the best playmakers in terms of creating scoring chances via his passing:

The production hasn’t followed for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons is he’s shooting the puck less than he has throughout most of his career. His 6.7 SOG/60 is the third lowest of his career and his shot attempts/60 (12.5) is a far cry from his Winnipeg days where he had 14.0 and 15.1 attempts/60 in his two full seasons there.

Enter Viktor Arvidsson. In looking through the prior two seasons of All Three Zones data, Arvidsson has been one of the top dual-threat options on the LA Kings not only in terms of shot attempts and shot passes, but also being dangerous of the rush and off the cycle:

Arvidsson had 12 primary assists last season and by my tracking was second only to Kevin Fiala in shot contributions/60.

The only winger that’s stuck with Dubois this season has been Alex Laferriere and I wouldn’t change that. The rookie winger and Dubois have had good chemistry this season but we haven’t seen a consistent finished product from them. With Arvidsson, you have a player who is capable of driving play in his own right but also creating scoring chances for both himself and his linemates.

There are, of course, other options. Reuniting Arvidsson with Danault and Moore could seem like a logical choice, but the team has been hesitant to put Fiala and Dubois back together since they were split up earlier this season. The duo have played over 207 minutes at 5-on-5 together this season but only 41 of those minutes have come in the last 40 games.

All that to say, my forward group would look like this down the stretch:

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Fiala
Laferierre – Dubois – Arvidsson
Turcotte* – Lizotte – Lewis
Kaliyev

*Pending health

The LA Kings don’t have much time to get this sorted, but the nice thing is a healthy Arvidsson is going to bring plenty of balance to the lineup, wherever they decide to use him.

Data via All Three Zones, MoneyPuck, and  Natural Stat Trick

Main Photo Credit: John Munson, AP Photo