Eriksson overpaid, but still effective
Veteran’s 30-goal seasons are behind him now, but the coach is happy with his defensive play
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Imagine, if you will, a universe where no one knew Loui Eriksson’s salary or that he once averaged 30 goals a season over a four-year stretch.
We know it’s difficult but, for a laugh, play along.
In this universe, you’d look at Eriksson’s season with the Canucks and think: There’s a useful NHL player — not a star but a handy guy to have on your team.
Dude is an efficient penalty killer and plays a shutdown role on a line that generally draws the opposition’s best. That line, with Jay Beagle and Tyler Motte, has been the Canucks’ most consistent unit this season and while no one’s thinking of a fancy nickname for the trio, they’ve earned the praise of head coach Travis Green.
“There aren’t a lot of fourth lines in the league where you’re comfortable putting them out against a No. 1 line,” says Green, a serial fiddler who’s kept the trio intact. “It’s a nice option for us to have.”
The problem, as you must know, is Eriksson lives in a universe where he’s judged by a different standard. In that universe, everyone knows his salary and knows his career numbers. They also knew he was brought to Vancouver to provide offence and, in three seasons, his best year was 11-13-24 in 2016-17.
As such, he’s been deemed a crashing failure in this market and we’re not going to try to change anyone’s opinion in this space. We’ll just say when Green looks at Eriksson, he doesn’t look at his salary or his stats line. He looks at a player he trusts — which, for a coach, is the highest compliment.
“You don’t sit there, or try not to at least, and look at dollar value,” Green says. “You look at the player. I don’t look at Bo (Horvat) and say, ‘You make this much money; I expect you to play this well.’
“Is (Eriksson) still a 30-goal scorer? I don’t know. But is he an effective guy who can kill penalties and play in a shutdown role? I do know that. I know I can put him out late in the game to protect a lead.”
Eriksson, as you’re likely aware, has been a lightning rod for criticism since signing a six-year, $36-million deal three years ago and promptly scoring into his own net in his first game in Vancouver. Conscripted to play on a line with the Sedins, he failed to deliver in that first season and soon found himself drifting all over the lineup, a lost soul on a lost team.
But this year, Eriksson has found a home playing with Beagle and Motte and if he isn’t ticking the boxes Canucks’ fans hoped for, he ticks a lot of boxes for Green. On Thursday in Los Angeles he also moved up and played on a line with Horvat and Josh Leivo while continuing to kill penalties.
True, he didn’t figure in the scoring in the Canucks’ 4-3 shootout win, but we’ve got used to that by now.
“The one thing about Loui is he never complains about anything,” Green says. “You give him a role and he’s happy to do it.”
A good teammate, to boot: There’s another box.
“It’s definitely a role, a pretty tough one,” Eriksson says. “You’re playing against good players every night. It’s a big job. I’ve played in a shutdown role before, but whatever it takes to win games.”
That role has been in a state of flux since Eriksson came to Vancouver. Coming off a 30-goal season in Boston where he played with Patrice Bergeron, he was seen as the perfect fit for the Sedins, a plug-and-play winger who’d knock out 25 to 30 goals while playing responsibly in his own end.
It just never happened that way and, yes, it still bothers him.
“That was the point of it when I came here,” he says. “The first year, I don’t know how many games we played together but it was a little bit different. I didn’t play that much with them. But it’s what the coach wanted and I feel like I’ve been battling ever since.
“It’s been tough that way.” Before you ask, Eriksson hears the criticism. The man is a lot of things; dense isn’t one of them.
“It’s part of it and it’s how things are,” he says matter-offactly.
But if the goal-scoring part of his game has evaporated, he still prides himself on his defence and that’s now his role with the Canucks.
Beagle, Eriksson and Motte form the foundation of the Canucks’ penalty-killing unit that ranks second in the league over the last two months. He’s also found a soulmate in Beagle, another offensively challenged forward, who’s built a successful career on the game’s lesser-appreciated details.
“It’s a weird thing,” Beagle says of his relationship with Eriksson. “Sometimes chemistry comes right away and sometimes it takes a while. I felt like I could read Lou right away. It’s fun when you find that. The game just feels easier.”
Eriksson is also building a life away from the rink in Vancouver. He and wife Micaela have four kids ages two through nine — three daughters and a son who was born in the summer of 2016, as the family was leaving Boston for Vancouver.
He allows that resettling his brood presented challenges the first couple of years but, like their father, the kids have settled into a routine.
“It’s the best thing when you come home and how happy they are to see you,” he says.
Especially when they’re not concerned about how many goals you’ve scored.