Boston Bruins: Moving On From Loui Eriksson
Unless something drastically changes in the next few days, it’s all but certain that the Boston Bruins and Swedish forward Loui Eriksson will part company at the trade deadline. It’s a shame really, The 30-year forward has been pouring on the power as of late, putting up five goals in his last five games (including game winners against the Dallas Stars and the Columbus Blue Jackets). He also has eight points in the last eight games. Now the Bruins are going to move him in the next few days, and Eriksson will be added to the list of Milan Lucic, Johnny Boychuk, Tyler Seguin, and Dougie Hamilton: potential career Bruins that the B’s just had to let go.
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Once again, the ghosts of Bruins past (mainly Peter Chiarelli) come back to haunt Cam Neely, Don Sweeney, and company.
“Loui is having a tremendous year for us,” said Sweeney last month. “He’s an important player for us, as he would be, really, for any of the 29 other teams. If I field a call on him or anybody else, that may or may not fit for them. I have to balance that. We like to keep good players.”
Why can’t the Bruins and Eriksson come to terms? The Bruins aren’t comfortable signing a player to a six-year deal. As good as Eriksson has been this season, he’s not going to be the next Jaromir Jagr. Eriksson will have three, maybe four solid seasons left at the NHL level. His recent concussion history doesn’t make his long-term prospects any rosier in Boston’s eyes.
They’ve also got to work within the salary cap. Brad Marchand has had an even better season than Eriksson, and while the Bruins don’t appear to be all-in on the Swedish winger, they know they have to keep the Little Ball of Hate in Boston. The only thing working for the Bruins right now is that Eriksson’s solid production will only raise his value when Sweeney pulls the trigger on the deal.
With all the trade talk going on, Eriksson is playing like a professional. Loui Eriksson and Matt Beleskey were the bright spots in the B’s most recent 6-4 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. For a while in the third, it seemed like Eriksson was going to catch Columbus, but a few late goals sealed the fate of the Bruins. Still Eriksson is keeping his thoughts on the here and now.
“I haven’t really focused on everything around.” said Eriksson of the negotiations and on a potential move. “The things that are going around right now with the team and the trade deadline and everything. I’m just trying to focus on my game and try to play good. Goals have been coming lately here the last few games. You just have to keep doing the same thing. All I can do is just try to play my game, and help this team as much as I can.
“It’s a little bit challenging. But like I said, I’m just trying to play my game and not worry that much about what’s going on around on the outside. All I can do is just play.”
If the Bruins do make the move with Eriksson, (and still have hopes for making the playoffs) they’ll need a few players to step up big time in the short-term. The Bruins will need young forward David Pastrnak to boost his production. They’ll also need to see a more complete game from Jimmy Hayes. If those two players can step up, (and Beleskey’s hands can stay hot) then the Bruins would be able to make a case for themselves come the end of the season.