Boston Bruins Options For Loui Eriksson At Trade Deadline

The Boston Bruins are currently at the fore-front of the NHL Trade Deadline’s speculation and rumor mills with regards to whether they are buyers, or sellers. The biggest discussion that is being had regarding the Bruins is whether or not they will come to terms with pending UFA Loui Eriksson, keep him as their own rental player, or trade him to maximize their return.

Extend Loui Eriksson

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The Boston Bruins have confirmed through team president Cam Neely, that general manager Don Sweeney has sent out another offer to Loui Eriksson and his camp. While there is no word yet on whether the offer has created enough motivation for Loui Eriksson to sign or not, the Bruins remain interested in retaining the services of one of their most productive players for not only this season, but moving forward for years to come.

There is clear value in retaining a player like Loui Eriksson who is on pace to record 31 goals and 65 points this season. While offensively, Eriksson has always been fantastic with the exception of his first two years in Boston as a result of concussions, injuries, and third line minutes, the real incentive to keep Loui Eriksson is his ability to play a 200-foot game while maintaining that offense. The Boston Bruins are a team that is full of two-way players such as Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, and even David Pastrnak was lauded for his two-way ability prior to being drafted 25th overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Loui Eriksson fits right into this mold and is a player that Claude Julien would certainly love to keep on his team for the foreseeable future.

Keep Loui Eriksson As Their Own Rental

Loui Eriksson is a mainstay on the Boston Bruins top-six, first power play unit, and penalty kill. He currently sits in first on the team with 61 games played, second on the team in points with 48, second on the team in goals with 23, fourth on the team with 25 assists, tied for first on the team with five game winning goals, and third in shooting percentage with an astounding 17.41 with only Tyler Randell — 25 games played, 33 percent — and Chris Kelly — 11 games played with a 25 percent shooting percentage — sitting ahead of Eriksson.

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The Boston Bruins currently sit in third place in the Atlantic Division and are tied with the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning at 72 points apiece. While the Boston Bruins were believed to be a rebuilding team prior to this season, and while there is evidence that the Bruins are probably not legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, it’s impossible to ignore the current playoff picture. The Boston Bruins need to do what’s best for their organization at the trade deadline, and retaining Loui Eriksson through the playoff race, and playoffs themselves might be the Bruins best course of action if they simultaneously add to their roster at the deadline.

By keeping Loui Eriksson as their own rental player, the Bruins would also have a longer window to try and retain the veteran winger as he would only become a free agent on July 1st. The market for Loui Eriksson is likely somewhere in the range of six years at $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 per year. The issue that the Boston Bruins are facing is the fact that Loui Eriksson will be 31 this summer, and term like that for that dollar value may be too steep of a price for the Bruins to risk.

Trade Loui Eriksson

Joe Haggerty of Comcast Sportsnet New England recently asked this question on Twitter:

Here's your chance to weigh in Bruins fans. Should the Bruins trade Loui Eriksson if they can't re-sign him?
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) February 24, 2016

Nearly 2,000 people voted on whether or not the Boston Bruisn should trade Loui Eriksson or keep him for the playoffs, and the result was a resounding “Trade him”.

Loui Eriksson‘s value has been known for a long time, but the recent trade between the Chicago Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets may have really set the value for what Loui Eriksson is actually worth. The Chicago Blackhawks re-acquired Andrew Ladd — with 36 percent of his contract retained — from the Winnipeg Jets along with former-Bruins player Matt Fraser and Jay Harrison for highly-touted prospect Marko Dano, a first round draft pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, and a conditional third round draft pick in the 2018 NHL draft contingent on Chicago Winning the Stanley Cup this season.

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The Boston Bruins could look to get a similar return from a team looking to bolster their Stanley Cup chances prior to the February 29th trade deadline, and it would just add to their plethora of prospects and two first round draft picks that they already have in the 2016 NHL draft. The time for a decision is looming for the Boston Bruins, and many eyes will be interested to see how this story plays out.

Follow Brandon Share-Cohen on Twitter @BShareCohen to discuss all things Bruins and sports