In Vancouver, the Canucks’ Loui Eriksson stirred up some controversy this off season by dropping a few disparaging comments about his head coach, Travis Green.
Eriksson alluded to the two men “don’t really get along 100 percent.”.
Eriksson, 34, has been less than productive on offense but Green has placed him on checking lines and not on either of the top two lines, leaving goals sparse and hard to come by.
The Canucks’ brass are not concerned.
“I think his comments, I don’t think they were as egregious as people think,” Canucks general manager Jim Bennin said. “He is just trying to be honest with the situation, but we had a really good conversation and that will stay between Loui and I and we will continue to talk and work things out.”
Eriksson has three lefts on his contract at an AAV of $6 million.
Cannot imagine Vancouver not needing to eat some of that bloated deal in a trade to rid themselves of the forward.
The question is, who can afford that kind of cap hit for a 34-year old forward.
“It’s gone past any kind of request,” Eriksson’s agent, J.P. Barry said on TSN Radio 1040 earlier this week. “I think we’re all just working together to look for a solution, really, is what we’ve been doing. It’s not an easy thing. I think any kind of transaction would have to involve a player on another team in a similar situation, and we all know that, so we’ve all looked around the League and this could be the time of year, when after you get through free agency, after you get a better idea of everyone’s [NHL salary cap] positions, that those kind of changes could still happen over the next several weeks.”
In a head-scratcher, Michael Del Zotto signed a one-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks.
It remains a mystery how Del Zotto remains relevant in the league.
Del Zotto, 29, returns to Anaheim after they traded him at the deadline to the St Louis Blues. The deal is worth an estimated $700,000.
He had a goal and 10 points in 42 games with the Ducks, Blues and Canucks.
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