Vancouver Canucks: Which teams make sense for Loui Eriksson?

The Vancouver Canucks need to find a new home for Loui Eriksson, but how many teams are somewhat realistic trade partners?

It’d be a huge win for the Vancouver Canucks and Loui Eriksson if general manager Jim Benning could unload his contract, with the team facing a salary cap crunch as well as a logjam up front.

The pressure to trade Eriksson grew higher for Benning after the 34-year-old expressed his frustration with head coach Travis Green back in May. Eriksson has three years remaining on the six-year, $36 million contract he signed back in 2016.

But it’s not going to be easy for Benning to move out a declining forward who has just 32 goals and 76 points over 196 games with the Canucks. Eriksson’s age, injury history and declining production make him virtually impossible to trade. The $6 million cap hit for three more years further complicates thing.

Benning shouldn’t give up hope, however. We’ve seen even worse contracts get moved out before (Dave Bolland, David Clarkson and Scott Gomez come to mind). And perhaps there are some teams that would see some value in Eriksson — who remains a solid defensive player, leader and high-end penalty killer.

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Satiar Shah of Sportsnet 650 mentioned the Dallas Stars as a possible fit for Eriksson — especially if the Canucks would take on Andrew Cogliano or Blake Comeau. Both are signed for two more seasons — and their cap hits would add up to $5.65 million.

In this case, the Canucks would get two cheaper and equally or more productive players. The Stars would reunite with Eriksson (he played seven seasons there), who would be a nice fit for defensive-minded head coach Jim Montgomery — while moving on from two players that just aren’t getting it done in Dallas.

But other than the Stars, how many other teams would make sense for Eriksson?

The Ottawa Senators are in rebuilding mode, but they have $21.94 million in projected cap space, per CapFriendly. Maybe adding a veteran leader like Eriksson would help, although it might take a “sweetener” for the Senators to take on the contract.

Maybe the Colorado Avalanche (just over $19.965 million in projected cap space) would add Eriksson to boost their bottom six as they continue to grow into a bonafide championship contender.

Other teams with considerable amounts of cap space include the New Jersey Devils ($19.845 in projected room) and the Columbus Blue Jackets (just over $15.765 million). Both clubs have plenty of young forwards and could use a player of Eriksson’s caliber, but like Ottawa, a sweetener probably has to be attached in order to have New Jersey or Columbus take the deal.

Aside from those five teams, there aren’t any other teams that make sense as possible trade partners for Eriksson — unless the Canucks were to take on a bad contract. Most clubs, as you can see here, are right up against the salary cap — and most of them don’t have any good reason to eat up the final three years of Eriksson’s deal.

So if I’m Benning, I’m calling Dallas to see if a deal can be had — something along the lines that Shah brought up. Otherwise, Ottawa, New Jersey, Columbus and Colorado might be his final options.

And if none of them are willing to make the deal, then Benning will have no choice but to hang onto Eriksson for at least another year. That’s obviously not the preferred outcome, but the Canucks are running low on exit routes.