Boston Bruins forward Loui Eriksson took the ice with the rest of his teammates on Tuesday, the B's eventually emerging with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the visiting Calgary Flames. And while the game at TD Garden was just another routine NHL night in Boston for Eriksson, it almost never was. The recently passed NHL trade deadline was supposed to be full of action, with players heading east to west, north to south, and everywhere in between.
But that wasn't the case. Not by a long shot, in fact. Instead, there were just 19 trades involving 37 players completed, down five trades and six players from 2014-15. Eriksson was one of a number of players media and pundits alike committed page after page of analysis and conjecture to, only for Eriksson to remain in place beyond the deadline.
It turns out, it wasn't from a lack of trying on Bruins GM Don Sweeney's part. Sweeney's ask was big, apparently. Like, really big. Like, Andrew Ladd big. Ladd, the former Winnipeg Jets captain, was acquired late last week by the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for top Hawks prospect Marko Dano, a 2016 first-round pick and a conditional pick in 2018.
Sweeney was said to be seeking at the very least, a first-rounder and a top player or prospect.
It makes sense, considering Eriksson's production this season and the fact that his game seems to be rounding into form once again after a couple of tough years following a serious head injury. But Sweeney probably also had to know that the only way that deal was getting done was if a team got desperate. And with the Canadian dollar sagging and too many teams chasing, and within arm's reach of, playoff berths, that simply wasn't going to be the case.
Really, what Sweeney probably wanted was to hold onto a player he sees as incredibly valuable, both to this season's Cup chase and in the years to come. But there's no guarantee Eriksson will be a Bruin beyond 2015-16. In fact, it sounds like an impasse remains and it won't be easy to gap.
Eriksson wants six years. The Bruins initial offer? Three. They've apparently bumped it to four in the weeks since, but Eriksson won't accept a shorter term unless the annual value goes up.
And therein lays the dilemma for Sweeney. He kept Eriksson, likely in the hopes that he'd help the team this year and so that he could continue hammering away at a long-term deal. But Eriksson isn't assured to sign. In fact, it's very possible he won't.
Will a short playoff run be worth losing Eriksson without any compensation in the offseason? Probably not. And Sweeney will surely do whatever he can to keep that from happening.
But there's no guarantee he'll be able to. And asking for a Ladd-like return on Eriksson at the deadline may very well mean Sweeney will be forced to cave in contract talks come the summer.
