Kalman: Eriksson Seeks Return To Form
WILMINGTON (CBS) – The Bruins need Loui Eriksson to return to the form he showed when he was with the Dallas Stars prior to his trade to Boston for Tyler Seguin.
That's no secret, not even to the veteran left-shooting winger.
He scored 82 goals in the three seasons prior to the 2012-13 lockout, and he needs to be on that type of pace from start to finish in 2014-15 for the Bruins to succeed.
"Yeah, for sure I want to get back there," Eriksson said Friday after the Bruins' first on-ice practices of their 2014 training camp at Ristuccia Arena. "Yeah, I had a tough year last year. It wasn't easy. So definitely I want to get back there to those numbers and contribute for the team and play good. So it's definitely something I want to do."
Everyone around the Bruins wants Eriksson to be the player general manager Peter Chiarelli and the rest of the brass acquired as the centerpiece of a package for center Tyler Seguin. For all the hype around 2014 first-round pick David Pastrnak and other prospects, Eriksson is still the best fit for the right side of Boston's top offensive line with David Krejci at center and Milan Lucic at left wing. It's just a matter if Eriksson, now 29 years old and one season removed from two concussions, can not only regain his form but also produce at the type of pace that made Jarome Iginla a great complement for that line last season and Nathan Horton the perfect third member for that trio the three years prior.
In 61 games last season, Eriksson scored 10 goals. He averaged 0.61 points per game after averaging 0.60 points per game in the lockout-shortened season for Dallas. Those averages are more than 16 percentage points less than his four big seasons in Dallas from 2008-09 to 2011-12, when he had more than 70 points three straight years and no less than 63 over a four-year period.
His shooting percentage also took a major dip to 8.7 in 2013-14 after not being less than 11.5 over the prior six seasons.
It's easy to look at Eriksson's stats and see his dip. It's also easy to look at the numbers in his best seasons and see how closely they resemble what Iginla and Horton did in their years playing with Krejci and Lucic.
Eriksson averaged 2.4 shot attempts per game and scored on 14.1 percent of his shots in his three best Dallas season (71 points twice, 73 points once). In his one season with Boston, Iginla shot 14.4 percent and averaged 2.68 shots per game. Iginla's shooting percentage was his best since the 2010-11 season.
In three years with Boston, Horton scored 56 goals in 169 regular season games and shot 14.3 percent and averaged 2.31 shots per night. With taking into consideration playing style or chemistry, it's pretty obvious Eriksson has the pedigree to be the Bruins' go-to guy on their 1A forward line.
There's no shortage of scoring chances when you play with Lucic and Krejci, who get the benefit of better zone starts than the line that's centered by Patrice Bergeron and completed by left winger Brad Marchand and a third forward (who was Reilly Smith in 2013-14).
"I always try to look at the seasons I had when I had 70 points. I used to try to get around there and even get better," Eriksson said. "So last year was a tough one point-wise, but this year I hope I get a little more scoring chances and do a little bit more with the points and assists and everything."
Bruins coach Claude Julien kept Eriksson separate from Krejci and Lucic (who was in a different practice group) Friday. The coach will have to take a look at Eriksson playing with Krejci and Lucic at some point in the preseason just to do his due diligence. Maybe Eriksson's methodical style and playmaking tendencies won't be the right fit for a spot that used to be filled by bull-in-a-China-shop type forwards. Or maybe that trio will click, and Krejci will even get that goal-total increase he talked about earlier this month.
In the process, Eriksson can prove that last season was an anomaly and not a sign of a downward trend in his career.
"You always have pressure when you play. And it was the same in Dallas when I played there, I always wanted to play good and do good," he said. "So it's definitely something I want to do here and like I said play consistent and produce almost every game and contribute for the team. So that's something I wanted to do."
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
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