Finding a fit for Eriksson won’t be easy
Loui Eriksson seldom serves up something of significance when cornered for a comment.
The perplexing Swedish winger goes about his business, sticks to cliches and then slips into the shadows.
Part of that is the reserved nature of the embattled Vancouver Canucks winger. And part of that is knowing he’s been in the critical crosshairs here for years in failing to deliver on a six-year, US$36-million contract.
With just 31 goals in 196 games over three seasons, there’s no appetite on the NHL trade market to acquire an underachieving 34-year-old winger with too much term and salary left on his deal and too much indifference in his play. Even his no-trade clause for the 2019-20 season seems moot because there are no suitors.
If there was trade interest, Eriksson could consider a change of scenery because the view in Vancouver is bleak. There’s trying to crack a roster rich in wingers and the aftershocks of his verbal eruption on a Swedish hockey website in May that took issue with his deployment by coach Travis Green.
“The coach and I don’t really get on 100 per cent,” he said. “It is difficult when I do not get the same trust that I received from all the other coaches I had during my career. Of course it is tough on that front.”
It just added another layer to what has become an uncomfortable situation for all parties.
“I’ve been in contact with Loui and his agent the last couple of months and he’s going to sit and talk to Travis,” said general manager Jim Benning. “He’s going to have a good camp and find where he fits. We still think he’s a good player and hasn’t scored like his contract would dictate how he should score. He’s still good on the penalty kill and plays in a matchup role. And at the end of the year, he played with Bo (Horvat) and (Tanner) Pearson and that was a good line. We have to find a fit and go from there.”
It won’t be easy from a roster perspective.
Horvat is expected to centre Pearson and J.T. Miller, while Elias Pettersson works between Brock Boeser and Micheal Ferland. That leaves Brandon Sutter between Sven Baertschi and either Jake Virtanen or Josh Leivo and Jay Beagle centring Tyler Motte and either Virtanen or Leivo.
I’ve been in contact with Loui and his agent the last couple of months and he’s going to sit and talk to Travis (Green).
It means Nikolay Goldobin and Eriksson could be extra forwards if the club elects to carry 14. It means putting Tim Schaller on waivers and getting him to Utica to open some cap space. It means Adam Gaudette starts in the AHL because he doesn’t require waivers and that somebody will be waived when Antoine Roussel returns at Christmas from April knee surgery.
Even putting Eriksson on waivers and having him play with the Comets to free up a roster spot is of little cap benefit.
The formula calls for the league-minimum salary of $700,000 plus $375,000 applied to Eriksson’s $6-million hit and that still results in a sizable $4.9-million cap crunch. He would still collect his $6 million to play in the minors and it’s difficult to imagine ownership having an appetite to pay yet another player to not play here.
From an optical perspective, the Eriksson presence here will be a distraction unless there’s some serious fence-mending.
Despite his off-season complaining, Eriksson had his opportunities last season. He started on the right side with Goldobin and Pettersson, but didn’t score in his first seven games. He bounced from line to line as Green tried to find the right fit at left or right wing for a guy who finished with a Corsi-for puck-possession rating of 47 per cent, ninth among club forwards.
And when Eriksson had but one goal in a 20-game span, Green did what any coach would do. He finally scratched the veteran March 13 against the New York Rangers.
Eriksson sat just one game and four games later had the third fourpoint night of his career. He had an empty-net goal and three secondary assists in a 7-4 win over the Ottawa Senators. Still, he would finish with just 11 goals and 18 assists.
The lack of production and his blast at Green made it even tougher to move Eriksson. He simply wasn’t engaged enough and was missing a real fire in the belly that would attract interest. Maybe that’s just the way Eriksson is wired. But if he was at a much lower price point and a 20-goal scorer, nobody would wonder about his demeanour.
There were off-season trade rumours that Eriksson would reunite with former Dallas coach Dave Tippett in Edmonton with Milan Lucic coming this way. Lucic wound up in Calgary and James Neal went to the Alberta capital after the clubs talked for a month to make that deal happen.
There was also a rumour that Eriksson would return to his NHL roots and that the Stars would part with wingers Andrew Cogliano, 32, and Blake Comeau, 33, because their combined salary cap hit of $5.6 million would be palatable here. But Dallas had zero interest in moving the pair.