It will be a big boost for the Canucks in the 2022-2023 season, as they will be able to spend that money on a sidecast around the young core and with his money, Roberto Luongo`s $3,035,212 recovery penalty and other contracts that come out of the books, could look more like a playoff team. There`s no one Benning would like to throw overboard than Eriksson, the Canucks` highest-paid forward who doesn`t put much into the team`s future plans. Could Eriksson make at least as much money for the rest of his career if he left that contract? Sure! But that`s not really an incentive – it`s money he could get, compared to the money he`s legally required to make. Eriksson simply doesn`t bring anything to an NHL roster anymore. He has slowed down and has no attacks at his game. At that point, the Canucks could buy Eriksson`s contract for $2 million — instead of paying the $3 million base salary he would otherwise be entitled to. Instead of $6 million in their cap, the Canucks would receive $4 million in 2021-22 plus $1 million in 2022-23. They will have to find a way out of the last two years of Loui Eriksson`s contract. The veteran forward received his $4 million signing bonus, meaning he « earned » $27 million of the $36 million he was owed from Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning`s regrettable contract in 2016.
The lesson in all this? Don`t sign more than 30 six-year futures. This is the potential escape route from Eriksson`s contract that everyone is talking about right now. Shortly before the 2020 trade deadline, the Buffalo Sabres waived Zach Bogosian and assigned him to the Rochester Americans — only to deny the order. The Sabres then set Bogosian their own deadline to show up for Rochester, and when he didn`t show up, they terminated his contract and removed his hat-trick from their books. That doesn`t leave much room for Boeser, who is eligible for just $7 million per season. Admittedly, Eriksson`s contract would be much easier to resolve in the 2021 offseason, but not without difficulty. Theoretically, that would still give the Canucks plenty of time to extend Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes without worrying about the final year of his contract — but a more likely outcome would be for the Canucks to extend Pettersson and Hughes into the season and desperately try to turn Eriksson around in July. It`s a bad place to be. While it can be difficult, the Canucks could unload Loui. Are they going to do that, that`s another question.
This is a daunting task and seems highly unlikely at this point. With only two years of current contract and no huge deal for a penalty shootout specialist like Eriksson, Vancouver seems to be better off just to endure their « mistake. » Right now, Loui Eriksson is a Canuck, and there are ways to get rid of his huge contract. Depending on his age, Vancouver would be responsible for two-thirds of the remaining average annual value of Eriksson`s contract over the next two years, setting the initial buyback cap at $4 million. Given the Canucks` current financial situation as well as the planned fixed cap, every dollar currently counts for this organization, so this could certainly be a tempting option for the property. However, it is important to consider all the implications of this possible decision. Eriksson was one of the salary dumps included in the successful trade to the Arizona Coyotes. Eriksson entered the final year of a contract that earns him $4 million in real dollars, but carries a cap of $6 million, and spoke with Henrik Leman of Swedish publication Rakapuckar.com. The second option is to pack it with other players to try to win a star player from another team. Before Canucks fans find themselves in turmoil, Brock Boeser doesn`t need to be involved. The Canucks have been linked to Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Eriksson could be a filler to make the money work.
No matter what the Canucks end up doing with Eriksson`s contract next season, it`s in the organization`s best interest to simply walk away from the player at this point in his career. Eriksson is no longer of any use in the formation of this team and would be better off next year at Abbotsford if he wants to continue playing hockey, provided Benning does not buy him for the rest of his contract. Benning will, of course, find a way to sign Brock Boeser again, but if that happens, the team will be marginalized – perhaps beyond the cap and forced to lose his salary. However, those numbers turn into the final year of his contract, when he only earns a $1 million signing bonus to leave with a base salary of $3 million. He also bought the final year of Ryan Spooner`s contract, which will have $1.03 million against the cap in each of the next two seasons. It`s safe to say that Eriksson`s contract was a disaster from the start. The former 2003 second-round pick never surpassed the 20-point mark during his time in Vancouver and no longer has the foot speed or defensive skills to break through an NHL roster. Eriksson still has one year left on his six-year contract and was only eligible for seven games last season.
In those games, he recorded zero goals, one assist and a minus-three rating. There`s also something Rick Dhaliwal mentioned recently in The Athletic, and that`s eriksson`s agent is JP Barry, who has clients like Karl Alzner and Andrew Ladd who make a lot of money in miners without complaining — and doesn`t seem to like the idea that his clients are heavily armed to give up their contracts. The Canucks would be able to save $2 million from the cap next season, but would also be burdened with a cost of $1 million for the 2022-2023 campaign, bringing their actual net savings to just $1 million over the next two years. Not exactly noticeable numbers when trying to create a list under the flat ceiling. If the #Canucks decide to buy Loui Eriksson`s contract, there will be some benefits before the final year of his contract. According to CapFriendly, the relief of a buried contract would be « the minimum wage for the respective season + $375,000. » Currently, the league`s minimum wage for the 2021-22 season is $750,000, meaning the Canucks would save $1.125 million if they demoted Eriksson to the AHL. That would be an increase from the $1.075 million they would have saved this year if they had sent it to Utica, but it`s also just an $875,000 difference between the buyout and Bury`s « below the line » options. Many wondered if Eriksson would simply retire before the end of his contract, having already made a lot of money during his career. But while Eriksson was talking about the difficulty of not playing as much as he wanted, he said he was trying to make the most of a bad situation by training hard. Eriksson will celebrate his 34th birthday this week, which doesn`t give him much hope of being able to revive his career in Vancouver or elsewhere.
The former 30-goal scorer scored just 11 goals last season and appeared in 81 games in various roles for head coach Travis Green. First, the Canucks were able to trade Eriksson for another bad contract. They may have to look for a similar contract. Like Johnny Boychuck of the Islanders, who still has 2 years ahead of him, with an average of $ 6 million against the ceiling. While it may not be ideal, it would help the Canucks contribute to a comprehensive blue line. Using the annual buyout window to cancel Eriksson`s contract seems ideal until you look at the actual numbers – as provided by CapFriendly: Here`s what the remaining three years of his contract look like (figures provided by CapFriendly): So far, the team has been able to sign contract extensions for head coach Travis Green and goaltending coach Ian Clark. and Henrik and Daniel Sedin in their hockey operations department. They were also able to sign the promising Vasily Podkolzin on an entry-level contract, and they even managed to move their AHL subsidiary much closer to home. Loui Eriksson signed a 6-year/$36,000,000 contract with the Vancouver Canucks, including a signing bonus of $28,000,000, a guarantee of $36,000,000 and an average annual salary of $6,000,000. In 2021-2022, Eriksson will earn a base salary of $3,000,000 and a signing bonus of $1,000,000 while carrying a cap of $6,000,000. To see the rest of Loui Eriksson`s breaches of contract and have access to all of Spotrac`s premium tools, sign up today.
Already a subscriber? The mutual part of the termination of the mutual contract simply won`t happen unless Eriksson suddenly decides he desperately wants to leave the world`s most beautiful city — serious enough to give up $4 million. Good luck. As mentioned earlier, Eriksson will likely spend the entire season with Abbotsford in the AHL because he buried 17.9% of his contract, while the remaining 82.1% of his contract rests on the Canucks` cap as their own weight. While sending Eriksson to Utica doesn`t quite improve the situation, it does give the Canucks an extra $2 million in cap space. He does too, so Vancouver Eriksson doesn`t pay $6 million to sit in the press box. A few other results, including, but not limited to, Eriksson, who is fed up with the Canucks and waives his no-trade clause for any team that shows him time in the NHL. Or he lights a fire under his butt and Canucks fans see the Loui Eriksson they thought they would get back in 2016. There`s been a lot of talk about eriksson`s contract being more accessible to some teams once his July 2020 bonus is paid out, after which he will only owe him $4 million in real money in two seasons. The idea is that teams like the Ottawa Senators, who are struggling to reach the ceiling floor, could take the opportunity to take charge of Eriksson`s full cap without having to pay his full salary. .