An 11-year veteran, Arvidsson has 194 goals and 389 points in 613 career games with the Predators, Kings, and Oilers. He is well-known to Bruins coach Marco Sturm, who was an assistant in Los Angeles from 2018-22.
“I’m going to play a responsible game, and I think Marco knows exactly what he’s getting from me, and I’m going to help offensively and bring scoring,” Arvidsson said. “I know I can do that, and I know I had a little bit of a tough time last year with that. … I am really confident that I’m going to make the team better.”
He has played in a variety of spots on the power play and has 33 goals and 74 points on the man advantage.
“I started in the bumper, but I played most of it in front of the net and down low and had good success there,” he said. “So, wherever I get put, I’m going to try to bring my best and so just take it as it comes.”
Arvidsson is coming off a 15-goal, 27-point season in Edmonton. He added another two goals and 7 points during the Oilers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final.
He is on the books for one season and carries a salary cap hit of $4 million.
The signings of Jeannot, Kuraly, and Eyssimont, three players with a competitiveness and physicality in their DNA, signal general manager Don Sweeney’s desire to be a tougher team to play against night in and night out.
“We were at times last year even when we had our [full] group [healthy], we were an easy out and I can’t stand for that,” said Sweeney. “So, we are going to reestablish that. … When you have iconic players and people that are driven that we’ve had the fortune of having and leading our group here for a long period of time, the next group needs to really, really embrace that. We had injuries, that was a factor involved in that, but now we’ve infused that.
“We have guys that are self-starters, we have guys that are going to show up and practice. We have guys that are going to show up when the whistle blows and drag people in with them. If they aren’t dragged in, then they won’t play.”
Jeannot, 28, landed the biggest free agent deal from the Bruins, agreeing to a five-year pact with an annual cap hit of $3.4 million.
The 6-foot-2-inch, 220-pound Jeannot is a rugged winger with a penchant for big hits.
Jeannot had a big rookie season when he collected 24 goals and 41 points in 81 games — all career highs — with Nashville. In three seasons since, however, Jeannot has just 20 goals and 45 points combined for the Predators, Lightning, and Kings.
“I don’t know if he’s getting back to scoring [24] goals. I sure hope so,” said Sweeney. “Deep down we believe he’ll bring a lot more energy to our group that we need — the physicality is there.”
Boston welcomed back Kuraly, signing the center to a two-year deal worth $1.85 million per season.
Kuraly, 32, played the first five years of his nine-year NHL run with the Bruins, scoring 24 goals and totaling 68 points.
He signed with his hometown Blue Jackets and served as an alternate captain at times during his four-year tenure in Columbus, where he put up 40 goals and 85 points.
Similar to Jeannot and Kuraly, Eyssimont, who was traded from Tampa Bay to Seattle at the deadline last season, plays a heavy brand of hockey. He collected 16 points and 110 hits in 77 games last season between his time with the Lightning and Kraken.
The 28-year-old Eyssimont’s deal is for two years and $2.9 million total.
Sweeney cited Eyssimont’s “juice and competitiveness,” as reasons the Bruins were attracted to him.
“Everybody we’ve talked to in terms of how Mikey shows up to practice every day, he’s a pain [in thebutt], and I want him to be a pain [in the butt] for us,” said Sweeney.
Blumel (one year, $875,000) and Steeves (one year, $850,000) have spent the majority of their pro time in the AHL.
A left-shot wing who can play both sides, Blumel, 25, scored two goals in 13 games with Dallas and is coming off a nice AHL campaign with the Texas Stars (39 goals,72 points in 67 games).
Steeves is a left-shot center/wing who had one goal in 14 games with Toronto. The 25-year-old had 36 goals and 62 points in 59 games with the AHL’s Marlies last season.
“The conversations we had with both Matej and Alex were, ‘If you’re going to score at the [NHL] level, we want you here, not anywhere else,’ ” said Sweeney. “So, we provided that opportunity today and they’re excited about it and I said if they take the job of somebody that believes they’re an incumbent, that’s what happens in the National Hockey League when a guy gets passed and the internal competition start that we discussed organizationally we need to get back to having, and we’re hoping they’re going to take advantage of that opportunity.”
Harris, 24, is a Haverhill native who provides good skating and puck movement and is someone Sweeney hopes “will push for playing time.”
Additionally, forward Riley Tufte, defenseman Jonathan Aspirot, and goaltender Luke Cavallin were signed to two-way deals.
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.
