Fantasy Impact: The Vancouver Canucks have signed Loui Eriksson to a six-year deal worth $36 million
The Canucks get: In a bit of a surprise, Loui Eriksson is a top-sniping winger who is coming off a big year – but also a contract year.
Eriksson to Van. 6 yrs x $6 mil.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) July 1, 2016
I say it’s a bit of a surprise because this team should be in rebuild mode. Yes, you still need capable NHLers to fill out a roster, but spending big money on a long term for a UFA doesn’t exactly fit the bill of a rebuild.
Nonetheless, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Eriksson. He saw a big rebound last year playing in Boston’s top-six, be it with Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci. Eriksson cracked 30 goals for the first time since 2008-2009, and 60 points for the first time since 2011-2012. He should end up on the right wing of the Sedin twins, and while they’re not the players they were five years ago, they are still a top-end forward duo.
Fantasy Players Impacted: The effect on Eriksson is obvious. The Sedins drive the play and still produce points. That’s good.
This helps Alex Edler because you can assume (for now) that he is running the top power play unit next year. Radim Vrbata fell off a cliff and is gone, Alex Burrows is nothing more than depth at this point, and Jannik Hansen isn’t exactly a prototypical finisher. The Canucks lacked a real finishing element on the top PP unit, and Eriksson can help in this regard. That should help Edler’s power play assist totals, as his six PP assists last year were the lowest for him in an 82-game season since his rookie year in 2007-2008.
Hansen had one of his best offensive seasons of his career, and he cracked 20 goals for the first time. He did this playing the majority of his five-on-five time with the Sedin twins. With Eriksson in town, barring an injury – which, let’s face it, isn’t improbable – Hansen will be moved down the depth chart, and I’m not sure Bo Horvat is at the level yet to be able to sustain Hansen scoring 20 goals or finishing around 35-40 points.
Fantasy Players this helps, in order:
1. Eriksson
2. Edler
Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:
1. Hansen
*Stats from Hockey Reference and Hockey Analysis
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Eriksson to Vancouver was the worst-kept secret of free agency . . . it had been well-known for months that he was going there to play with the Sedins . . . Vancouver is re-tooling on the fly, not rebuilding
The term is the only thing that bothers me, with the Sedins unlikely to play in the NHL past the next 2 seasons…why pay a then 32 yr old $6mil per on a team that will struggle to make the playoffs, and is more likely to then go under a complete rebuild.
I agree. And in all the articles I’ve read on this signing, very few mention his concussion history. Do GM’s even consider this aspect?