LOUI ERIKSSON - Left Winger - 34 - $6MM Cap Hit - UFA in 2022-2023
LAST UPDATED 8/28/19
In the Canucks' last-ditch effort to try to win the Sedins a Stanley Cup in Vancouver, the team gave Loui Eriksson a massive $6MM-a-year deal. That was a mistake, a pretty massive one. To that point in his career, the worst healthy offensive season Eriksson had endured since breaking out in 2008-2009 was a 47 point campaign in Boston, and even then Eriksson followed up that season by scoring 30 goals and 63 points the next season. The Canucks thought they were getting a consistent top-6, two-way threat. Eriksson has been anything but that in Vancouver. He's struggled to stay healthy, battled lengthy scoring droughts, and found himself unable to find real chemistry with his linemates. Eriksson's 40 point floor now looks like a distant ceiling, as Eriksson has yet to post more than 30 points in a season in Vancouver. Now, that being said, Eriksson still has a few areas of his game that work. While his offensive touch may have evaporated, and his skating may have regressed, he can still hold his own on a penalty kill. He's still smart enough and diligent enough to make a defensive impact, and that at least allows him to fit in when placed in a lesser defense-first role, even if it makes him a decently expensive luxury. Eriksson is a defensive winger who carries a hefty cap hit and the threat of further regression as he gets deeper into his thirties. He's already a negative-value asset, and if his defensive game starts to slip, the tenuous hold he currently has on an NHL spot could be in jeopardy.
In the Canucks' last-ditch effort to try to win the Sedins a Stanley Cup in Vancouver, the team gave Loui Eriksson a massive $6MM-a-year deal. That was a mistake, a pretty massive one. To that point in his career, the worst healthy offensive season Eriksson had endured since breaking out in 2008-2009 was a 47 point campaign in Boston, and even then Eriksson followed up that season by scoring 30 goals and 63 points the next season. The Canucks thought they were getting a consistent top-6, two-way threat. Eriksson has been anything but that in Vancouver. He's struggled to stay healthy, battled lengthy scoring droughts, and found himself unable to find real chemistry with his linemates. Eriksson's 40 point floor now looks like a distant ceiling, as Eriksson has yet to post more than 30 points in a season in Vancouver. Now, that being said, Eriksson still has a few areas of his game that work. While his offensive touch may have evaporated, and his skating may have regressed, he can still hold his own on a penalty kill. He's still smart enough and diligent enough to make a defensive impact, and that at least allows him to fit in when placed in a lesser defense-first role, even if it makes him a decently expensive luxury. Eriksson is a defensive winger who carries a hefty cap hit and the threat of further regression as he gets deeper into his thirties. He's already a negative-value asset, and if his defensive game starts to slip, the tenuous hold he currently has on an NHL spot could be in jeopardy.
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