BOSTON – Loui Eriksson was mum on his future with the Boston Bruins, and what will happen over the next 24 plus hours ahead of the 3 p.m. Monday afternoon NHL trade deadline. Eriksson would be the most prized possession on the trade market should he be made available by the Bruins and there are no shortage of suitors for the Swedish winger’s services as a rental player.
The Blues, Kings, Wild, Ducks, Stars and perhaps even some Eastern Conference teams have strong interest in the player on pace to reach 30 goals and 70 points this season. The Bruins could get a strong return for a player that doesn’t look like he’ll reach a contract extension agreement. The only way Eriksson signs with Boston would be if he comes down off his demands for a 5-6 year deal at $6 million plus per season, and that just doesn’t seem likely at this point.
Eriksson has dealt gracefully with the speculation for weeks, and has risen to the occasion with seven goals scored in his last nine games all while the deadline is looming ahead. So it was no surprise, after taking part in Sunday morning’s skate at TD Garden that Eriksson didn’t want to talk about his contract, trade rumors or his future beyond this season.
“All you can is like I’ve been saying earlier…you try to focus on the game that you’re going to play tonight. That’s all you can do is try to get the two points in the game for us tonight,” said Eriksson, who didn’t appear to be a man expecting to be pulled from the lineup in an important game against the divisional rival Lightning. “I don’t really want to talk about [the contract] right now. We’ll see what’s going to happen. All I can do is just play and help the team. It’s like I’ve been saying the last couple of times I’ve talked to you guys.”
Eriksson is in a tough spot personally as he’s already got three daughters and another baby on the way, so a midseason relocation would be difficult all-around. Those are the kinds of behind-the-scenes things that can sometimes get lost amid the hoopla of NHL trade deadline day. So one more time Eriksson mentioned how much he’d like to stay in Boston, but chances are he’ll need to take a little less contractually in order to remain with the Bruins organization.
“Like I’ve said, for me and my family this is a really good team to play for. It’s a really nice city to be in, and living in…it’s definitely nice,” said Eriksson. “We’ll see what’s going to happen. All I can do is play my game, and help the team as much as I can to win the game tonight.”
The only thing that would keep Eriksson in Boston would be the B’s 11th hour unwillingness to move Eriksson from a playoff team in a mediocre Eastern Conference, and that may ultimately come to pass if the two sides can’t find common ground in the next 24 hours. As Eriksson said earlier on Sunday morning, “we’ll see what happens.”