Viktor Victorious: An Interview With Viktor Arvidsson

Few things can bring Smashville to its feet faster than a Viktor Arvidsson breakaway. At 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, the Nashville Predators right wing may often be the smallest guy on the ice, but he plays with enough hustle that he’s earned his own hashtag.

The 24-year-old Swede — he turns 25 on Sunday — was a surprise breakout star last year when the Preds made franchise history by advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time ever. Through the regular season, Arvidsson racked up 61 points — tying Ryan Johansen for the team lead — and in the postseason he added three more goals and 10 assists to that tally. It surprised no one when the Preds rewarded his hard work with a seven-year $29.75 million contract just one month later. 

Though he changed numbers — from 38 to 33 — for the 2017-18 season, that #ArviHustle has continued to pay off. As of press time, Arvidsson leads the team in goals (29) and game winners (six), and he’s second behind captain Roman Josi in shots on goal with 237. While the numbers are important, it’s his animated style of play that has fans chanting his name after every one-timer that hits the back of the net. Arvi bounces around in the opponent’s crease like a flea, providing blinding jump screens and quick rebounds while holding his footing against guys with about 20 pounds more muscle. And if you listen to It’s All Your Fault, the Scene’s weekly Predators podcast, then you’ve heard me compare his moves — in their quickness and enthusiasm — to a red panda playing the snow. (I swear it’s uncanny! But more on that later.)

Arvidsson’s teammates love him as much as fans do. During a recent practice, former captain Mike Fisher, who came out of retirement in March, praised No. 33’s vigor. “Everyone loves Arvi,” Fisher told the Scene. “And for good reason, because he’s always working. He never takes a shift off. He’s fearless. And he really is a warrior out there. It’s contagious.”

But Arvidsson is much calmer off the ice — shy even, more likely to praise his teammates than accept compliments. After a late-March practice, the morning after securing a home-ice advantage for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Arvidsson sat down with the Scene in the team’s locker room to talk about his on-ice chemistry with Filip Forsberg and Johansen, making a home in Nashville with fiancée Moa Norberg and, yes, whether or not he plays hockey like a red panda.

You’ve been with the Preds for three seasons now — four if you count the six games you played in 2014-15. Is Nashville starting to feel like home?

Yeah, especially after I signed my contract this past summer. I really like the city — me and my fiancée just really enjoy it here. And we’re starting to get to know every back road there is. It’s for sure starting to feel like home.

I actually just went up to a game in Minnesota, and it was my first time experiencing a Preds game in another arena. It was so quiet compared to Bridgestone! Bridgestone, of course, is one of the louder arenas in the league. Are you aware of all the cheers and standing ovations when you’re on the ice? Or is it all white noise?

At home you notice more because it’s your crowd. When you get a chance to score, or something happens — a hit or something — the crowd gives you energy. But on the road, you feel when the other team gets going, and the other team’s turning great stuff, and the crowd gets going there too. But I don’t notice it that much. In some arenas you can notice it more, like Montreal or Edmonton, where the crowd is pretty good.

So does the Bridgestone crowd fire you guys up? Are you able to tune into it? I assume you have heard the goalie chants: “It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!”

[Laughs] Yeah, sometimes you notice it. And it’s pretty funny. We think it’s pretty funny — it’s a thing here, and I get it. It’s fun for the crowd.

Are you also aware that you’re kind of a fan favorite?

Not really. I don’t think about it like that. I just try my best every day, and I guess people like what I do and how I compete and how I try out there. It’s for sure really fun that people notice that and really want to see it.

Not every player has their own chant when they score. You get your own “R-V! R-V!” chant!

Yep. [Laughs]

Is that embarrassing? Is that cool?

No, it’s for sure really cool. And the thing on the Jumbotron — I never thought that I would get a chant when I’m playing. It’s pretty unreal.

One of the things that really cemented your place in people’s hearts was that empty netter you were going to take against the Avalanche, but then passed at the last second to Forsberg. Not every player would give up their own goal to do that. What was going through your head at that moment? 

Well, first I was trying to get the puck as quick as I could, and then I saw Fil in [the corner of] my eye and I knew he was at 19 [goals]. So I felt like, “He can get 20." That’s a milestone. I felt like he deserved it.

You and Forsberg, and Johansen too, have an especially good line sometimes. It’s fun to watch — you guys look like you’re having fun, while also playing incredible hockey.

Yeah, for sure we have fun. We expect great things of each other, and we expect to be good every night, and I feel like that’s a big part of it. Fil and Joey have a tremendous amount of skill and talent, and they can make something out of nothing. And I try to work as hard as I can, and try to make plays too, and be the guy that gets them the puck. We have fun together, and we can laugh a lot and make jokes about each other — we have a great chemistry that way.

Do you remember your first shift as a Nashville Predator?

I’m pretty sure it was Buffalo, home ice. I got called up, and my dad was on a plane — he was coming to Milwaukee to watch me play. I think we were in Cleveland or something, I’m not sure, but I flew to Nashville and called my dad. He just landed in Chicago, and I said, “Moa is gonna pick you up, and then you’re coming down to Nashville to watch me play.” And it was his 50th birthday, too, so timing was just great.

Were you nervous?

I was nervous, yeah. Both my fiancée and my dad said, “You were skating all over the place. We can’t really recognize you!” But [I] wanted so much to prove [myself] and show coaches and staff. … But [I] acclimated and calmed down a little bit after a few games.

I have something I want to show you. I’ve noticed when you play, there is a striking resemblance between you and a red panda.

Yeah?

This is gonna sound stupid, I know. But I have some photo evidence.

Yeah? [Laughs] OK.

When you do your jump screens, when you leap off your feet, it’s just so playful. Sort of like a red panda playing in the snow. I wonder if you care to comment on that. Are you, in fact, part red panda?

I don’t think so, no. [Laughs] But it’s pretty funny, the pictures are proof.

But you do have a fun style of play. Is that something you think about? Obviously adrenaline is going, but do you think, “I have to keep my attitude light. I have to shake things off.”

Not really. When we score, I love it, and I just feel like that’s part of the game, like that’s what you play for, to score and win, so that gets me excited. I just try to have as much fun as I can, and that’s a part of the game, too — you gotta relax and have fun, and really enjoy the moment.

That might be why you’re a fan favorite.

[Laughs] Well, maybe.