Canucks: Don’t expect Loui Eriksson to be traded
By Bill Huan
Loui Eriksson’s bloated contract has been much maligned by Vancouver Canucks fans, but the enormous cost it would take to move him makes a trade unlikely.
Loui Eriksson’s contract has been the biggest headache for the Vancouver Canucks in recent years, but it’s unlikely that he will be traded anytime soon.
Why? Well, take a look at the prices that other teams have paid to get rid of contracts that are nowhere near the annual $6 million figure of Eriksson’s deal.
For example, the Tampa Bay Lightning just traded Cedric Paquette and Braydon Coburn to the Ottawa Senators in order to get rid of $3.35 million of cap space, and the price they had to pay was a 2022 second-round pick.
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That might not seem like much on the surface, but we need to keep in mind that Eriksson is owed almost twice the amount of money and will be on the books for two more seasons, whereas Coburn and Pacquette’s deals are set to expire after this year.
Moreover, Pacquette is a far superior player than Eriksson at this stage of their respective careers. He’s one of the better bottom-six centres in the league while Eriksson is a replacement-level skater whose only value comes from his decent two-way game.
In return, the Lightning received Marian Gaborik and Anders Nilsson, who are both set to go on LTIR and thus won’t help Tampa Bay in any way other than creating cap room.
If this is the price to just get rid of a few million dollars of cap space, then opposing teams will no doubt ask for a future first-round pick or one of Vancouver’s top prospects in order to take on Eriksson’s contract, either Vasili Podkolzin or Nils Hoglander.
That likely won’t get it done either, and the Canucks will need to include a useful roster player in the deal as well.
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With many other contracts expiring after this season, it isn’t worthwhile for Vancouver to sacrifice significant parts of their future just to get rid of Eriksson’s bloated deal. The team should have enough cap space to sign all their pending RFAs, and it would be smart to keep the Swede and wait until his contract expires. Let me know if you agree in the comments below!