For Kings forward Warren Foegele and Edmonton Oilers winger Viktor Arvidsson, road games in the first round may have brought opportunities to moonlight as a tour guide.
Arvidsson, who spent three seasons with the Kings before signing a two-year pact with Edmonton this summer, and Foegele, who inked a three-season deal with the Kings in July, were part of a de facto swap that saw them switch sides in the rivalry. The feud, which dates to the 1980s, was reignited at a time that synced up directly with Arvidsson’s arrival in Los Angeles from Nashville and Foegele’s to Edmonton after breaking in with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Foegele, who like the Kings’ newest-comer Andrei Kuzmenko had been on something of a coaching merry-go-round in his career, said he felt trusted for the first time in his career. He reciprocated by expanding his role defensively and on the penalty kill, while setting career highs offensively (goals, assists and points) and boosting the duo of Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore down the stretch.
Moore has called Foegele a prototypical L.A. Kings player, even referring to him as “built in a lab” to Kings Insider Zach Dooley. Quinton Byfield has seen that lab, since he has trained with Foegele during the offseason in Canada for several summers.
“Coming to L.A., you kind of knew the player that you were getting,” Byfield said. “But he’s stepped up from that, he’s exceeded the expectations that most people had on him. Personally, I knew he always had that ability.”
Foegele didn’t record a point but still factored centrally into the game-winning goal in Game 1, recorded two assists in Game 2 and had his first goal of the series to put the Kings up 2-0 in a Game 4 they eventually lost in overtime. He’d gone to the conference finals with Carolina and last season he reached Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final with Edmonton, experience he carried into this campaign for the Kings.
“You’re building throughout the regular season to get to the playoffs,” Foegele said. “You’re building habits, you’re building chemistry and you’re kind of building a brotherhood as well, going through different adversity during the regular season, and those lessons will help when adversity hits during the playoffs.”
Adversity has officially hit, as Arvidsson and the rest of the Oilers have upended the series to take a 3-2 lead behind three consecutive triumphs, now a game from bouncing the Kings from a fourth straight postseason.
Arvidsson scored a vintage “Little Viking” goal in Game 2 to cut the Kings’ lead to a goal, taking contact and still producing a deft deflection to give the Oilers life. Though they lost that game in the Kings’ only sound third period of the series, Arvidsson would again leave an imprint in a pivotal Game 5 victory. His purposeful bankshot off Darcy Kuemper’s pads was the primary assist on Mattias Janmark’s game-winning follow-up bid.
Arvidsson said he was enjoying his new surroundings, an environment with much more intense media attention than he experienced in California or Tennessee. After a start that saw him battle injuries – he had two major back operations while with the Kings but nothing so serious this season – Arvidsson found his footing late in the year, including a stretch in which he scored seven goals in 14 games.
“Getting more touches, more ice time has been good for me, and getting to be more involved has absolutely been important for me,” Arvidsson said.
Arvidsson pulled up in Los Angeles at the same time as Danault and Alex Edler. That season didn’t just ramp up the Kings-Oilers beef, it elevated the Kings back to the playoffs after a three-year absence and also helped establish the stardom of Adrian Kempe, who is tied with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for the playoff scoring lead.
“We had some good years with Arvi, he’s one hell of a player. He’s been around for a long time and he knows what it takes to win,” Kempe said of Arvidsson.
Arvidsson’s less-than-imposing size did not stop him from playing big, attacking opponents with his skating and remaining eager to get to the costly areas of the ice. His confrontational style seemed infectious, especially toward Kempe, with whom he won World Championship gold with Sweden in 2018 and later played with frequently on the power play.
Kempe, who hadn’t topped 14 goals or 32 points in a season to that point, averaged 35 goals per campaign during Arvidsson’s tenure, the exact number he scored again this year. Kempe was striving on his own, but also found a like-minded player and countryman in Arvidsson to help advance his game.
“It was a little bit of both. Over the years, (Arvidsson) played with confidence, he played aggressively, and that was kind of what I saw in my own game, too,” Kempe said. “Where I play my best game is when I skate a lot and be aggressive, not just with the puck but without the puck, too.”
Arvidsson was also complimentary of Kempe and the player he had become. The duo was even reunited briefly during an ephemeral run for the Tre Kronor at February’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
“He’s an excellent skater and he started to use that to his advantage and create more space,” Arvidsson said. “In the room, on the ice and in practice, I like how he carries himself, how he plays and how he competes. He drives (the Kings).”
While Arvidsson may have exchanged black and silver for blue and orange, he felt his time in El Segundo and downtown L.A. was not only enjoyable but reinvigorating for his career. He’d been a tremendous spark on the Predators’ run to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, but upheaval – both general and specific – led the Preds to send him away for a modest return in the summer of 2021.
“When we got the new coach in Nashville, I kind of struggled, a lot of players did. A lot of guys got traded. I was one of them,” Arvidsson said, referring to when John Hynes replaced Peter Laviolette during the 2019–20 season. “When I came to L.A., they cherished the player I was and put me in spots where I could succeed.”
Game 6: Kings at Edmonton
What: Western Conference first-round series
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
TV: ESPN, FDSNW
Originally Published:
