Vancouver Canucks: The 5 options for Loui Eriksson
The Vancouver Canucks are now three years into Loui Eriksson’s six-year deal – but what options do the Canucks have on the table with Loui as they look ahead to a crucial season in 2019/20?
When the Vancouver Canucks signed Loui Eriksson to his 6-year, $6m AAV contract way back on July 1st, 2016, most Canucks fans were looking forward to him linking up with Henrik and Daniel Sedin and potting 120+ goals during his time with the team.
Sadly, for whatever reasons, Loui’s time with the Canucks has been a (mostly) unmitigated disaster. With just one game remaining in his third term with the team, Eriksson has just 32 goals and 44 assists in 195 games. He continues to contribute a modicum of offence — and this season has been the best of the three for scoring — and he remains generally solid defensively. But the negative attention his mere presence brings on the team, at a time when there is so much to be positive about for Canucks fans, means that now is the time to decide once and for all on Eriksson’s future.
Today, we look at the five options that general manager Jim Benning has on the table as the Canucks look to answer a difficult question: How do you solve a problem like Loui?
1: An expensive, and mostly pointless, buyout
Thanks to the ingenuity of Loui Eriksson’s agent, and perhaps to the over-confidence of Jim Benning when he gave him the deal, Loui Eriksson’s contract is as near to buyout-proof as you can get. According to Cap Friendly, a buyout of Loui’s deal would save the Vancouver Canucks just $444k in each of the next two seasons, $2.444m in 2021/22, and would then ADD cap for the three years from 2022-25 to the tune of $556k per season. That’s signing bonuses for you.
Financially, there is no point in buying out Loui Eriksson’s contract, because whoever takes Loui’s place on the roster – even on a league minimum deal – would in effect be costing the Canucks more than simply keeping Loui on the team.
That’s not to say that buying out Loui is totally pointless. He remains a millstone around the necks of this young team, with the focus on his continued under-performance and lack of consistent offensive contributions a regular frustration for Canucks fans and media. If the Vancouver Canucks were to buyout Loui’s deal, they wouldn’t save much by way of cap – but they would free themselves of both the ongoing headache of having to answer endless questions about his contract and, crucially, would free up a roster spot for a younger, hungrier player.
It’s unlikely that Jim Benning does buyout Loui Eriksson’s deal – but there is perhaps more merit to it than there was this time last year. If the Canucks do move Loui in any way, you can bet that someone else on this team will pick up all the flak Eriksson so graciously takes for the team.
LIKELIHOOD: 1.5/5
2: Find a trade partner and retain max salary
This is surely the preferred option for everyone involved. If the Vancouver Canucks could find a willing trade partner, retain the full $3m of Loui’s salary, and forget anything coming back in return, could they rid themselves of both their financial AND on-ice headaches?
The issue here comes down to finding said partner. You would think that the options would be limited to cap basement teams such as the New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators or perhaps the Arizona Coyotes. The problem with this idea is that Eriksson’s contract also holds a trump card: the pesky No-Trade Clause. If Loui doesn’t want to be traded to a basement-dweller like the Sens, or simply doesn’t want to uproot from Vancouver having made a long-term commitment, then there is nothing the Canucks can do to force his hand.
This will likely come down to some frank conversations with Loui after the season has ended, perhaps with Jim Benning highlighting some of these other, less attractive options to Loui and impressing upon him that if he wants to reach the magic 1,000 games played – which he would next season if he played 80 games – then he may need to consider agreeing to a trade.
LIKELIHOOD: 3/5
3: Bury him in Utica
This is an option I’m coming round to more and more. The Canucks would save some salary by waiving Loui and sending him to Utica – enough to bring in a younger player on an ELC – and would provide Utica with some invaluable veteran leadership at a time when their latest season has seen more chopping and changing than any season in the Comets’ history. It wouldn’t be fun for Loui though, and isn’t the way to build a positive relationship with your best-paid employee.
This is a legitimate option for the Vancouver Canucks. Eriksson’s contract does not stop the Canucks from waiving him and sending him to the AHL and, while he is solid defensively, there is an ever-growing section of the Canucks fanbase that simply wants to see Loui’s roster spot go to a younger, faster, more dynamic forward.
Frankly, I don’t believe Jim Benning would consider this as a legitimate option, as it sends the wrong message to potential future big-name UFA signings. But Trader Jim can certainly show Loui Eriksson that this is one of his options going forward, and perhaps force a trade that way.
LIKELIHOOD: 2/5
4: Could Loui retire?
You enjoy your job, you’re one of the very best at it in the entire world, every game you play etched your name deeper into the annals of your profession, and you earn $6m every single year in doing so.
Would you retire?
There is absolutely no chance that Loui Eriksson walks away from his contract. While much older veterans like the Florida Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo may consider walking away from the last three years of a deal, Luongo’s deal only pays him just over 1/3rd that Eriksson’s deal pays Loui.
I listed this as an option as, technically, Loui could retire. But I would rather see him back with the Canucks for the next three years than see him sail off into the sunset, because he is a good guy who gets an unfair amount of criticism, and his contract is not entirely his fault.
LIKELIHOOD: 0/5
5: Continue playing for the Canucks
Of all the aforementioned options, this is probably the most likely option. Eriksson’s fourth year is the last in which he holds a full No-Trade Clause; Years 5 and 6 see him hold a modified NTC, and that makes it much easier to trade him to whoever is on his list of possible destinations.
If Loui is to come back to Vancouver for the 2019/20 season, it would behoove Travis Green and his coaching staff to settle on a fixed assignment for Loui. Be that as a shutdown third line winger, or as a fourth-line energy guy getting 9 minutes a night, the whole team (and Loui himself) would be much better off if he had a clear task, and stuck to it.
Next season needs to be focused on the continued development of the team’s young stars. No Vancouver Canucks fan wants to continue reading critiques of Loui Eriksson when the team has the likes of Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, Quinn Hughes and Jacob Markstrom to crow about. If Loui is given a clear assignment he will undoubtedly fare better than he has done the last three years, and perhaps – just perhaps – the media will climb down off his back and let him get on with his hockey.
LIKELIHOOD: 4/5
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What to do with the ever-frustrating contract of Loui Eriksson is doubtless going to be one of Jim Benning’s major headaches this summer. While we don’t anticipate a buyout, and certainly don’t foresee retirement as an option, Vancouver Canucks fans will be hoping for either a trade or a demotion to Utica ahead of the failsafe option of bringing Loui back to Vancouver for another year. If Loui does come back for the new season, he needs a clearly-defined role to take the heat off him and to allow the media attention to fall on the team’s young core of stars.
Whatever happens this summer, we hope that Jim Benning takes decisive action – and we also hope that Loui can rediscover his form and love for the game, whoever he suits up for next season.