Eriksson greater than the sum of his goals
Pricey player turning in a respectable performance despite falling short of expectations as a marksman
At the outset of the season, it was a widely-held belief that Loui Eriksson would lead the Vancouver Canucks in goal scoring.
A 30-goal man in Boston last season and signed to a big ticket free agent deal on July 1, Eriksson was supposed to roll into town and be the trigger man on a team in desperate need of a marksman.
Obviously, things haven’t panned out at the rate most had anticipated.
However, with two goals in his first two games out of the team’s brief holiday break, the 31-year-old Swede provided a glimmer of hope that he can salvage his season.
Eriksson certainly hasn’t set the world on fire and as he nears the midway point of his first season of that six-year, $36-million dollar contract.
And the notion of him scoring anywhere close to 30 goals seems foolish now.
That doesn’t mean he’s played poorly, though.
On a team that gets buried in the puck possession battle most nights, Eriksson is a positive possession player with the Canucks controlling 52.3 per cent of all even-strength shot attempts when he’s on the ice.
That mark is tops among Canucks regulars and is actually above Eriksson’s career average of 51.9 per cent.
And he’s scoring goals at a pergame rate this season that is only slightly below his career mark.
It’s easy to get drawn to the 30-goals he scored with the Bruins a year ago and say Eriksson has been a massive disappointment.
The truth of the matter is that he worked the system to his benefit, cashing in on the second-best goal scoring season of his 10-year National Hockey League career in a contract year.
He’s certainly not the first guy to do that.
This season is looking very much like his second to last season in Boston (2014-15) when Eriksson scored 22 goals and had 47 points with six of his goals coming on the power play.
Right now, he’s projected to finish with 18 goals — nine on the power play — and 40 points. Underwhelming? Sure, those hardly have the look of a game-breaker or a difference maker especially for $6 million a season.
But it’s become apparent Eriksson isn’t flashy and isn’t likely to take control of hockey games — especially given the way he’s been deployed for most of the season.
Nearly 40 games in and it’s still unclear whether Eriksson’s on the team’s second or third line.
Regardless where he falls on the depth chart, though, his reality is that he’s expected to produce with steady, but unspectacular linemates Brandon Sutter and Markus Granlund at even strength and make hay as part of the team’s second power-play unit.
If judged through that lens rather than against his contract, Eriksson’s production is probably pretty close to where you’d expect it to be.
He’s fourth on the team in scoring, tied for the team lead in power-play goals and is the runaway leader among Canucks forwards in points per 60 minutes played with the man-advantage.
You’d think a guy with those credentials would have a more prominent role on one of the lowest-scoring teams in the NHL.
If Eriksson stays healthy and heats up a little in the second half, a 20-goal season isn’t out of the question. It’s a far cry from 30, but it would be a respectable total given many were wondering if he’d ever score one when he floundered in his first 13 games as a Canuck without putting a puck in the net.
Consider, too, he had a 12-game goal drought in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
With his two goals out of the holiday break, Eriksson bumped his total to eight on the season.
It’s surely not where he wants it to be, but quite remarkably it moved him within two of the team lead in that department and now makes him a reasonable bet to finish the year with the team lead in goal scoring the way so many had originally predicted.
Half a season into his stay as a Canuck, this much seems true about Loui Eriksson: the contract is a problem, but the player doesn’t appear to be.