The Boston Bruins are one of the teams keeping the stagnant NHL trade market, well, stagnant. Pending unrestricted free agent Loui Eriksson is playing well and one of the rental pieces that plenty of playoff bound teams around the league would no doubt love to acquire. The Bruins though, remain undecided on Eriksson's immediate NHL and Bruin future. According to TSN NHL insider Darren Dreger, via Chris Nichols of Today's Slap Shot, the "preference" within the Bruins building remains to re-sign Eriksson instead of trade him. But with Eriksson able to fetch a six-year deal on the open market and the Bruins, per Dreger, hoping to lock him up for "3-4 years," an extension may not be in the cards. And in the meantime interested NHL parties, just as they did with Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, sit and they wait.
Dreger: "Teams are also still waiting on the availability of Loui Eriksson... is he or is he not on the market." #Bruins
— Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) February 16, 2016
Eriksson, acquired by the Bruins in July 2013 as part of the Tyler Seguin trade with the Dallas Stars, struggled to get his feet under him in Boston. He suffered a significant head injury early during his Bruins tenure and it's only this season that he seems to finally be rounding back into form. It's easy to forget, but there was a time early in Eriksson's career when he scored 36 goals and collected 63 points in a season.
This year, Eriksson already has 20 goals and 45 points through 57 games, meaning that while he may not reach the 70-point plateau he once enjoyed, he's again a consistent threat on the ice. He's got a four-point scoring streak going right now and he seems to be peaking at the right time. It's why teams would be interested in acquiring him, but it's also why the Bruins and GM Don Sweeney would like to keep him around. In the end, money will be the deciding factor on Eriksson's hockey home the next few seasons, but so too will trade market value.
ESPN's Pierre LeBrun reported last week that rental players simply aren't going to fetch the kind of return that they did only a season or two ago. So while Eriksson may have been worth a second and perhaps even a late first last year or the year before, now, he may bring the Bruins something closer to a third.
