After months of negotiations, the Boston Bruins have watched their biggest unrestricted free agent slip away.
Vancouver Canucks sign free agent Loui Eriksson to 6-year deal
The Canucks get one of the big fish.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
On the first day of the 2016 NHL free agency period, the Vancouver Canucks signed former Bruins left winger Loui Eriksson to a six-year deal worth $6 million per year, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.
Eriksson came to the Bruins as part of the 2013 trade that sent Tyler Seguin to the Dallas Stars. Defenseman Joe Morrow and winger Jimmy Hayes are the only remaining leftovers in Boston from that deal.
Eriksson will be 31 years old when the next season starts, so he was looking for the last big contract of his career. His 2015-16 season was the best in four years, as he finished with 30 goals and 63 points in 82 games. It was the fifth time in his career that Eriksson eclipsed the 60-point mark.
Vancouver was rumored to be angling for free agent winger Milan Lucic, but it was reported that he had eliminated them from his list of desired teams as early as Thursday morning.
The Canucks instead end up with Eriksson, one of the league’s premier two-way forwards who will help them out on special teams for sure.
Boston tried for months to sign Eriksson, even keeping him at the trade deadline. At the end, they remained far apart in negotiations.
See More:
