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.

 

[ES]

thought he retired years ago

His last actual game was a SHL semifinal on April 10, 2023.

 

[sr edler]

It seems like low hanging fruit to pile this much on Loui, like years after he was even in the league, and I say this as someone who was never even that much fan of the player when he was good in Dallas and Boston.

But firstly, no once forced Benning to sign him to that deal, at that age, with his known concussion history.

Secondly, I think the team (or Benning) banked on him leeching a fair bit off of the Sedins, but the Sedins were declining themselves around this time and couldn't propel Eriksson's corpse anywhere, they couldn't turn dirt into diamonds anymore when slow-ass themselves.

 

[StrompTroller]

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.

Was waiting for the mention of the Scott hit.
It's funny to me reverberating effects of the Luic on Miller hit and the Bruins being dicks had on so many different aspects of players and directions of teams. That hit on Miller doesn't happen and the league does nothing and the Sabres never sign John Scott. That never happens Loui doesn't get knocked into next week, Maybe then he shows up for the Canucks like he did his 2 former teams. Sabres also traded for Ott to help "address team tougness" (not sure that was a well thought out plan but I digress). Miller and Ott both flame out quickly and end up traded to the Blues. Ott wins a cup and becomes a coach. Miller's career basically dies. The first the Sabres got in that deal went to acquire evander kane in another epic bust of a trade. Buffalo also gets Halak somewhere in this timeline who refuses to play for the Sabres further embarassing them.....

So many other players involved that I didn't even touch on. So strange to me how big of a ripple effect Lucic being a dick and both team's getting in ill advised pissing matches had on hockey in the grand scheme of things.

Sorry got on a tangent. I'd agree Loui was a decent payer before Scott broke his brain which then impacted his play (albeit after his payday with Van). Hit never wouldv'e happened though because Scott wouldn't be in the NHL at all if Lucic never hit Miller lol. Strange. Oh well....happy retirement!

 

[Favster]

Enjoy your retirement. If they ever make a movie about this guy they gotta hire Christian Bale to play him, they look like brothers.

 

[SPV]

Convinced John Scott ended his career before it officially ended, much like Matt Cooke on Marc Savard. Eriksson came back, but was never the same player.
Sad that they really haven’t completely fixed the problem that caused it.

 

[Il Stugotz]

Eriksson missed 5 games from that John Scott hit, came back and went on PPG heater for a month, and later had a 30 goal season.

The big dropoff happened after he signed his big contract

 

[McGarnagle]

Convinced John Scott ended his career before it officially ended, much like Matt Cooke on Marc Savard. Eriksson came back, but was never the same player.
Sad that they really haven’t completely fixed the problem that caused it.

Eriksson missed 5 games from that John Scott hit, came back and went on PPG heater for a month, and later had a 30 goal season.

The big dropoff happened after he signed his big contract

The Orpik hit doing more damage a month or so after coming back from the Scott one probably did more to shorten his career than anything.

His 2015-16 season was great though. 30 goals, 60 something points on a middling team with no depth. He was a bright spot that year, then he gets a contract and the wheels fall off altogether.

 

[Quack Shot]

Very underrated player in his Stars days. Always so f***ing good vs the Ducks.

 

[CommaSynapse]

At one point, he was my pick for most underrated player in the league.

He was a hell of a hockey player in Dallas and then just had a serious string of bad luck.

Injuries absolutely derailed his career.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

The Coyote legend. (to be completely honest, had no clue he ever played for them lol)

Shame he was so bad with the Nucks after signing that big contract. That's mostly how newer fans remember him, but he did have 3 consecutive 70 point seasons with the Stars in an era where that was enough to put him in top 25 scoring, effectively making him a legit 1st line guy in his prime.

 

[Dirty Dan]

This guy was one of the best wingers in the league in Dallas. In Boston he was bad for a bit due to concussions , had a few good seasons and got a big contract

 

[BTO]

These things happen.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Generationally awful.

Last one to practice, first one to leave. In 5 seasons with the Canucks he didn't crest 100 points total. 6 million by 6 years.

His one saving grace was all the funny weird faces he would get caught on camera making.

Not to add salt to the wound, but to add some additional context, $6 million in 2016 was against a $73 million cap. So about 8.22% of the cap.

The equivalent today, under today's cap, would be over $7.2 million/year for 6 years for 3rd-line production at best. A guy that never even reached 30 points in a season in a Vancouver uniform and was as negative an influence in terms of effort and body language as you could possibly get. Imagine signing a borderline 3rd-liner (4th liner some of the time) for over 7 million per season and having him suck the life out of anything that gets close to him like a black hole devouring a star.

Absolutely horrible signing. One of the worst of the salary cap era.

 

[PB37]

Good player. His last year in Boston was very good after a couple of seasons where he was dealing with concussions and trying to come back from them.