First-year Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney remains undecided on the future of forward Loui Eriksson. The team could trade him, they could sign him to a long-term extension - heck, they could even choose to keep him past the NHL Trade Deadline and continue chasing both a contract extension and a Cup with Eriksson in the fold. But despite the options in front of them, it's clear that Sweeney and Co. are at least heavily courting the notion of a trade. And while Eriksson is a highly talented player who could certainly help a contender's top-six go from good to great, it seems the asking price set by the Bruins may be scaring teams off.
Per TSN's Darren Dreger, that asking price, according to at least one Western Conference team, is a top player and a prospect. The team Dreger spoke with is "balking" at the price and they're not alone.
Dreger tweeted later that the Bruins are expecting additional offers for Eriksson, but that if a deal is to be enacted ahead of Monday afternoon's 3 p.m. deadline, they'll have to improve.
The only problem is; that's not certain to happen. Eriksson is a skilled forward with ample scoring ability and a fairly decent track record in terms of production outside of the couple of seasons he spent dealing with the after effects of a scary head injury. But he's not Andrew Ladd, at least in name.
Ladd, the former Winnipeg Jets captain, was shipped to the Chicago Blackhawks last week in exchange for top prospect Marko Dano, a first-round pick in 2016 and a conditional pick in 2018. As a guy with the personality and mental makeup of a captain, Ladd's production as compared to Eriksson's, especially of late - Ladd has 17 goals and 35 points this season, while Eriksson has 23 goals and 48 points - isn't as meaningful as it otherwise would be, especially when you consider that Ladd plays in a lot of situations.
But here's the thing - so does Eriksson. He's on the Bruins' top power play unit and he's a second squad penalty-killer.
Ladd and Eriksson are very close in age - both 30, with Ladd several months Eriksson's younger - and Eriksson's point production has actually been more consistent over his career than Ladd. For his career, Eriksson has 489 points to Ladd's 455, and that's even with Eriksson missing time and playing very much like a guy who wasn't feeling like himself due to the concussion he suffered shortly after joining the Bruins as part of the Tyler Seguin trade. Eriksson's also only played in 10 professional seasons. Ladd's been an NHLer for 13.
Looking at the statistics, you'd be hard-pressed to say Eriksson isn't worth the kind of return the Jets got for Ladd. But the market dictates such things, and if no team gets desperate enough to offer what the Bruins and Sweeney are asking, Eriksson may well be playing postseason hockey as a member of the NHL's Boston-based franchise come the spring.
