from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

Number 38. Who's this little No. 38 that has the puck all the time?

“Viktor Arvidsson,” Swedish scout Lucas Bergman would say, for consecutive NHL Entry Drafts between 2012 and 2014.

“Viktor Arvidsson,” Poile, Nashville’s general manager, would say back. Then they would talk — again — about this five-foot-nine, 180-pound forward who had caught Bergman’s eye as a 16-year-old.

Bergman never gave up on the conversation. To his credit, neither did Poile, assistant GM Paul Fenton, or chief amateur scout Jeff Kealty. They considered Arvidsson every year, the way a man and wife discuss when the time is right to replace the eavestrough.

“We had him on our list all of those years. We discussed him every single draft year,” said Bergman, over the phone from Stockholm.

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