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Loui Eriksson situation seems like no-win for Bruins

June 9, 2016, 3:32 PM ET [25 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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The start of free agency is less than a month away and Loui Eriksson remains unsigned.

Eriksson, part of the four-piece return sent to the Boston Bruins in the oft-discussed Tyler Seguin to Dallas trade in July 2013, was one of three 30-goal scorers on the B’s roster a year ago, and his 63 points were second only to Patrice Bergeron’s team-leading 68 points.

At the end of a six-year, $25.5 million contract signed during Eriksson’s tenure in Dallas (a deal that came with an affordable $4.25 million cap-hit), and set to turn 31 this July, everybody expects Eriksson to make one final cash-in on a long-term deal worth anywhere from $5.5-6.5 million per year. In a market short on skillful wingers (New York’s Kyle Okposo, veteran Andrew Ladd, and LA King and ex-Bruin Milan Lucic are the other big gets for a team come July 1st), too, Eriksson will get it. Naturally, for a team that just worked their way out of cap troubles, committing that sort of money to a player over 30 and with a concussion history presents its fair share of questions for the Black and Gold.

Still, the Bruins are hopeful when it comes to keeping Eriksson in town.

“We’ve been in discussions with Loui and have a pretty good idea where they would like to be at, and we’ll see whether we can find common ground there,” B’s general manager Don Sweeney said back on May 25. “But there have been ongoing discussions on that front. As I’ve always said, I really respect Loui as a player. He had a fabulous year and we’d love to be able to retain him.”

That optimism didn’t necessarily change when Sweeney, now in his second offseason as the GM of the Bruins, met back with reporters in last weekend’s trip to Buffalo for the 2016 NHL Draft Combine.

“I met with J.P. [Barry] (Eriksson’s agent) and his group this week, and we’ve continued to have discussions to see if we can find common ground,” Sweeney, who has remained positive throughout, said last weekend. “We’re getting closer to July 1. Does he feel the itch (to test free agency)? Maybe.

“If we don’t find common ground with Loui then we’re going to have to replace him.”

There’s a great number of reasons why the Bruins should re-sign Eriksson to that long-term deal. The fact that he’s an irreplaceable talent on this roster in terms of his three-zone game, flexibility within the lineup as a left and right winger anywhere on Boston’s lineup, and special teams presence all stand out as the obvious ones. There’s also a great number of reasons why they should not. The price, the injury history, and Boston’s status as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender (they are not right now and probably won’t be next year, either) moving forward all stick out as reasons to pass on keeping Eriksson, too.

Although it’s easy to say “That was the other guy!” and blame ex-GM Peter Chiarelli when it comes to the Seguin-to-Dallas trade, losing Eriksson for nothing this July would mean that your return in the Seguin trade becomes Jimmy Hayes and defenseman Joe Morrow. If you care to go back even deeper, it means that the once-lauded Phil Kessel -- a potential Conn Smythe favorite, mind you -- trade reads back as Hayes, Morrow, Zack Phillips, and draft picks. This would be the ultimate nightmare of nightmares you’d read about. The Bruins are at least somewhat cognizant of this, too.

The urgency to re-sign Eriksson should obviously go beyond PR concerns about a trade return.

Above all else, the Bruins simply do not have a player in their pipeline, or on the free agent market for that matter, that can step in and replace Eriksson’s production in all facets of the game. An Eriksson departure would press Matt Beleskey, Brett Connolly (if re-signed), Hayes, or youngsters like Seth Griffith, David Pastrnak, and Frank Vatrano into unfamiliar roles as a top-six winger, penalty-killer, or power-play presence. For some, especially on the power play, that could be a bonus to their development, but in other areas, it could spell trouble.

And replacing Eriksson with an Okposo, Lucic (they’re not going back down that road), Ladd, or anybody else on the free agent market (like deadline pickup Lee Stempniak), and it’s a push at best.

At the same time, long-term money for Eriksson adds more of the B's cap to older talents and takes more money off the table for younger, key pieces such as Brad Marchand and Torey Krug, and if you want to go even deeper, players like Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner if and when that time comes.

But it truly feels that no matter the end result, Sweeney is in a no-win position in regards to No. 21.

The good news, at least for Sweeney and the B’s, is that it’s clear Eriksson is not necessarily hellbent on testing the market, and is instead interesting in furthering the discussion with Boston. For now.

Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
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