Their size is the same. They are both D first, left shot dmen. They both are strong skaters. Arnesson was noted for having a good first pass. Nothing a like is a little over the top. Maybe UV is a better skater with the puck. Is that it?
So, because they are both LHD and roughly the same size (and D first supposedly) that means they are the same player?
Off the top of my head, Nik Hjalmarsson and Cam Fowler are both LHD that are roughly 6-1/6-2, 200 pounds, and solid defensively. Would you say they are the same player?
Vaakanainen and Zboril are two of the smoothest, most effortless skaters I have ever seen live. Arnesson is not a bad skater, but he is not in the same class. The next thing you need to look at is the mentality of the player. In my viewings of Arnesson, he showed zero willingness to jump into the play, regardless of his skating ability. Now, that could have been due in part to his youth and desire to not make mistakes on the defensive end, but it looked like it went deeper than that.
UV is definitely capable of jumping into the play. He certainly has the physical skills, so the only thing that remains is the mental part. From video I have seen, he appears to be attempting to get more involved offensively and the comments in the above article seems to bear that out. It’s just a matter of him getting comfortable enough with his defensive game in NA that he feels good about jumping into the play.
(Not to get off topic, but I think Carlo is in this category and capable of adding a lot more offense to his game. He has the skating ability to jump into the play. I think we didn’t see more of it because Krug was the offensive guy on the pair. When Krug and McAvoy were hurt, we got a glimpse of Carlo’s offensive ability)