Loui Eriksson retires

[jd22]

Most of any hate comes from Vancouver fans it seems. Not going to see much or any hate from Dallas and Boston fans. Loui was one of the more underrated and most versatile players in the NHL with Dallas -- skilled and relentless. The hate likely boils down to the awful contract the GM of Vancouver gave him.

A guy with a concussion history getting a 6-year contract for very good money at that time, starting when he was 31 yrs old. Bizarre. Loui always seemed like a really good dude, who clearly was affected by the concussions. Any hate should be directed at the GM for handing out such a stupid contract. Free agency has a habit of making GMs make some bizarre decisions.

We don't dislike him because of his injuries or injury history, we despise him because he didn't give even a quarter of a shit an eighth of the time. That is why Vancouver fans are shitting on him, and for good reason. Last one on the ice at practice, first one off. Almost every time. Will be widely panned as one of the worst contracts and, because of that, players in Canucks history.

Enjoy your retirement. Should have plenty of life left in those joints after getting your bag and screwing the pooch in Vancouver for 5 years.

 

[McGarnagle]

From a Bruins fan's perspective, he was ultimately a good player but there's a lot of hanging what ifs with his tenure. He got a couple big concussions early on in Boston after getting traded there and it set him back a good year and a half - first John Scott then Brooks Orpik headshotted him within weeks of each other (the latter is the context for Shawn Thornton's huge suspension for smashing Orpik's face into the ice in retribution).

He was relegated to the third line after the concussions, but in his final year in Boston he bounced back to a 30 goal season and played with Krejci most of the year. Of course, Don Sweeney refused to trade him at the deadline at his highest value and they still missed the playoffs. But at least we didn't sign him long term and get saddled with his contract like Vancouver did.