Loui Eriksson | #21 | LW/RW

[Pete M]

14 hours ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Wouldn't that be Granlund (or at least it was mentioned in that article that he was one of the two most used players on the PK that are no longer on the team)?  

 

most games I watched when Granlund was on the PK there were a lot of scoring chances against and goals against...Granlund was mediocre at best. That's why he was not qualified and not on the team. JB upgraded on Granlund with the new additions. Oilers can have him. JB got this one right.

[-AJ-]

21 minutes ago, Pete M said:

most games I watched when Granlund was on the PK there were a lot of scoring chances against and goals against...Granlund was mediocre at best. That's why he was not qualified and not on the team. JB upgraded on Granlund with the new additions. Oilers can have him. JB got this one right.

He was definitely upgraded on in the overall sense, but I am a bit worried that we have a lack of penalty killers this year. Someone is going to have to learn the job and if Eriksson isn't around, we'll have a real dearth of PK wingers (obviously we're set at centre). Here are the top PK players by ice time last year:

 

1. Granlund (Gone)

2. Beagle (Centre)

3. Motte (Still around)

4. Eriksson (Might still be around)

5. Sutter (Centre)

6. Schaller (Probably waived/Utica)

7. Roussel (Injured to start)

8. Horvat (Centre)

9. Pearson

10. Pettersson (At this point, we're getting to players who hardly played PK at all last year.)

 

Pearson has a little experience on the PK, so there's a solid chance he gets a role on either unit this year. From what I understand, Motte played a lot, but wasn't that great on the PK. I might be interested in a first unit of Beagle - Pearson and a second unit of Sutter - Motte, assuming that Eriksson is gone. If Eriksson's around, he's easily our best PK forward and bumps Pearson down to the second unit.

[King Heffy]

9 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

He was definitely upgraded on in the overall sense, but I am a bit worried that we have a lack of penalty killers this year. Someone is going to have to learn the job and if Eriksson isn't around, we'll have a real dearth of PK wingers (obviously we're set at centre). Here are the top PK players by ice time last year:

 

1. Granlund (Gone)

2. Beagle (Centre)

3. Motte (Still around)

4. Eriksson (Might still be around)

5. Sutter (Centre)

6. Schaller (Probably waived/Utica)

7. Roussel (Injured to start)

8. Horvat (Centre)

9. Pearson

10. Pettersson (At this point, we're getting to players who hardly played PK at all last year.)

 

Pearson has a little experience on the PK, so there's a solid chance he gets a role on either unit this year. From what I understand, Motte played a lot, but wasn't that great on the PK. I might be interested in a first unit of Beagle - Pearson and a second unit of Sutter - Motte, assuming that Eriksson is gone. If Eriksson's around, he's easily our best PK forward and bumps Pearson down to the second unit.

Virtanen's really turned into a responsible defensive forward.  I'd like to see his speed on the PK.

[-AJ-]

3 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

Virtanen's really turned into a responsible defensive forward.  I'd like to see his speed on the PK.

Looking at the numbers, he's definitely pretty decent defensively, so it'd be interesting to see if he could learn the role--it'd be very valuable to add another PK option to our team. It's worth noting he has almost no experience with it, so it would be new for him, but he seems to have the tools to be good at it and has shown decent enough defense 5-on-5.

[JM_]

13 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

He was definitely upgraded on in the overall sense, but I am a bit worried that we have a lack of penalty killers this year. Someone is going to have to learn the job and if Eriksson isn't around, we'll have a real dearth of PK wingers (obviously we're set at centre). Here are the top PK players by ice time last year:

 

1. Granlund (Gone)

2. Beagle (Centre)

3. Motte (Still around)

4. Eriksson (Might still be around)

5. Sutter (Centre)

6. Schaller (Probably waived/Utica)

7. Roussel (Injured to start)

8. Horvat (Centre)

9. Pearson

10. Pettersson (At this point, we're getting to players who hardly played PK at all last year.)

 

Pearson has a little experience on the PK, so there's a solid chance he gets a role on either unit this year. From what I understand, Motte played a lot, but wasn't that great on the PK. I might be interested in a first unit of Beagle - Pearson and a second unit of Sutter - Motte, assuming that Eriksson is gone. If Eriksson's around, he's easily our best PK forward and bumps Pearson down to the second unit.

good point, maybe we need to value that PK ability of Louis' a little more. 

 

Yes I know, 6 million, blah blah.... but we still need guys to do it well. 

 

[Pete M]

52 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

He was definitely upgraded on in the overall sense, but I am a bit worried that we have a lack of penalty killers this year. Someone is going to have to learn the job and if Eriksson isn't around, we'll have a real dearth of PK wingers (obviously we're set at centre). Here are the top PK players by ice time last year:

 

1. Granlund (Gone)

2. Beagle (Centre)

3. Motte (Still around)

4. Eriksson (Might still be around)

5. Sutter (Centre)

6. Schaller (Probably waived/Utica)

7. Roussel (Injured to start)

8. Horvat (Centre)

9. Pearson

10. Pettersson (At this point, we're getting to players who hardly played PK at all last year.)

 

Pearson has a little experience on the PK, so there's a solid chance he gets a role on either unit this year. From what I understand, Motte played a lot, but wasn't that great on the PK. I might be interested in a first unit of Beagle - Pearson and a second unit of Sutter - Motte, assuming that Eriksson is gone. If Eriksson's around, he's easily our best PK forward and bumps Pearson down to the second unit.

Sutter, Beagle, Miller, Motte, Horvat, Pearson, Leivo?, JV?...looks good if injury do not prevail...tbh, Granlund is very replaceable.

LE if he is on the team.

PK should be better with the new additions on "D" to support the forwards.

[Pete M]

This year is going to be good....in fact, even considering going to the preseason game and home opener in Cowtown. However, it would be good to know the lineup for the preseason game...

[RWMc1]

We still want him on our PK just because he's really good at it?

Did we forget that he threw Green, Benning, the team, Vancouver, BC, Canada, puppies, and kittens under the bus? (Stamps foot in childish anger)

[aGENT]

2 hours ago, Jimmy McGill said:

good point, maybe we need to value that PK ability of Louis' a little more. 

 

Yes I know, 6 million, blah blah.... but we still need guys to do it well. 

 

If he brought ANYTHING else to the table... sure.

 

Between Sutter, Beagle, Motte, Leivo, Pearson, Horvat, Virtanen, Roussel when he's back, Miller etc, etc I'm pretty sure we can fill out a couple competent PK squads. Eriksson or not.

 

Eriksson's got an up hill battle to show he's worth a roster spot over younger, cheaper, more valuable players.

[RWMc1]

32 minutes ago, aGENT said:

If he brought ANYTHING else to the table... sure.

 

Between Sutter, Beagle, Motte, Leivo, Pearson, Horvat, Virtanen, Roussel when he's back, Miller etc, etc I'm pretty sure we can fill out a couple competent PK squads. Eriksson or not.

 

Eriksson's got an up hill battle to show he's worth a roster spot over younger, cheaper, more valuable players.

Absolutely. If we don't have any injuries during pre-season and training camp then he is in a bad spot. He doesn't really fit with how we want our bottom six to play. Can he incorporate a more physical aspect into his game at this stage of his career? Unlikely.

We also have Baertschi, Virtanen, and Leivo that can step into the top 6 if we have any injuries to our top end forwards. His contract sucks or he would probably have been traded. It would be crappy if we lost a depth guy because Loui's salary is onerous even if we demote him. If he could regain some form then we could trade him down the road I guess.

[JM_]

1 hour ago, aGENT said:

If he brought ANYTHING else to the table... sure.

 

Between Sutter, Beagle, Motte, Leivo, Pearson, Horvat, Virtanen, Roussel when he's back, Miller etc, etc I'm pretty sure we can fill out a couple competent PK squads. Eriksson or not.

 

Eriksson's got an up hill battle to show he's worth a roster spot over younger, cheaper, more valuable players.

well now you're talking like he brings zero points. Yeah he's redundant, but with Roussel injured there might be an actual need for him at the moment in that specialist PK role, and maybe even on PP2. 

[Hairy Kneel]

I'd rather have Lievo and Virtanten (who has speed for SH goals!) kill penalties. Ferland and Miller should get a look at PK.

Gaudette should be given a long look at PK.  We've got Sutter back and we get Roussell back by xmas who both will help the PK.

[aGENT]

2 hours ago, Jimmy McGill said:

well now you're talking like he brings zero points. Yeah he's redundant, but with Roussel injured there might be an actual need for him at the moment in that specialist PK role, and maybe even on PP2. 

No, I'm talking like he's a guy whom has shown for 3 years that he isn't good enough for the top 6, isn't gritty enough for the bottom 6 and is not clearly better than a plethora of younger, cheaper, more valuable players who we'd rather not risk on waivers in favor of him  (who is basically zero risk on waivers). His only saving grace you guys are able to come up with is that he's 'like good on the PK n'stuff'.

 

He's going to have to do a LOT better than that come camp if he hopes to not be demoted to Utica.

 

[-AJ-]

1 hour ago, Hairy Kneel said:

I'd rather have Lievo and Virtanten (who has speed for SH goals!) kill penalties. Ferland and Miller should get a look at PK.

Gaudette should be given a long look at PK.  We've got Sutter back and we get Roussell back by xmas who both will help the PK.

Virtanen and Leivo have almost zero experience on the PK. Virtanen has shown some decent two-way play in 5-on-5, so he might work out, but Leivo hasn't shown too much in the way of defense yet, so I'd be wary of throwing him into that role. Gaudette is horrible defensively right now. Until he improves, I'd want him as far away from the PK as possible (I do hope he can eventually fill that role though).

 

Ferland played only 99 seconds of PK time in all 71 games last year, and played similar amounts in Calgary so he too has almost no PK experience. Miller has a bit more experience, but going by his numbers, he's probably more of an injury replacement penalty killer than a regular two units guy.

 

Outside of Eriksson, all we have is Motte, who has some experience, but is spotty, Pearson, who only started PK duties last year with Vancouver, and Roussel, who is injured until later in the year. Beyond that, we have a cluster of forwards who have at best dabbled into the work of penalty killing and at worst had only seconds of PK time last year, meaning we've got a load of question marks.

 

For my money, I think our best bet is to try to add penalty killing to Virtanen's game and leave it at that. I think him plus Motte/Pearson/Eriksson should hold us over alright until Roussel returns. Who knows, maybe Jake will become the next Matt Cooke of scoring shorties!

 

[aGENT]

1 hour ago, -AJ- said:

For my money, I think our best bet is to try to add penalty killing to Virtanen's game and leave it at that. I think him plus Motte/Pearson/Eriksson should hold us over alright until Roussel returns. Who knows, maybe Jake will become the next Matt Cooke of scoring shorties!

 

Yup (minus the Eriksson). Between Sutter, Beagle, Motte, Pearson, adding Virtanen and having the likes of Miller, Horvat, Leivo able to fill in here and there, and eventually Roussel coming back, well be just fine IMO.

 

How many players do we think are on these PK units anyway?

 

It's simply not enough of a need to warrant losing a younger, cheaper, more valuable (and arguably better moving forward) player for.

 

If he wants to be on the starting roster, he's going to have to do a HELL of a lot more than be a good PK'er. He's going to have to CLEARLY be the better player in MULTIPLE situations. I'm not holding my breath.

[AK_19]

15 hours ago, -AJ- said:

Virtanen and Leivo have almost zero experience on the PK. Virtanen has shown some decent two-way play in 5-on-5, so he might work out, but Leivo hasn't shown too much in the way of defense yet, so I'd be wary of throwing him into that role. Gaudette is horrible defensively right now. Until he improves, I'd want him as far away from the PK as possible (I do hope he can eventually fill that role though).

 

Ferland played only 99 seconds of PK time in all 71 games last year, and played similar amounts in Calgary so he too has almost no PK experience. Miller has a bit more experience, but going by his numbers, he's probably more of an injury replacement penalty killer than a regular two units guy.

 

Outside of Eriksson, all we have is Motte, who has some experience, but is spotty, Pearson, who only started PK duties last year with Vancouver, and Roussel, who is injured until later in the year. Beyond that, we have a cluster of forwards who have at best dabbled into the work of penalty killing and at worst had only seconds of PK time last year, meaning we've got a load of question marks.

 

For my money, I think our best bet is to try to add penalty killing to Virtanen's game and leave it at that. I think him plus Motte/Pearson/Eriksson should hold us over alright until Roussel returns. Who knows, maybe Jake will become the next Matt Cooke of scoring shorties!

 

I was disappointed that we didn't try out Virtanen on the PK last year. I can see him having a PK-style like Grabner with off the rush break-aways 

[Fanuck]

4 hours ago, AK_19 said:

I was disappointed that we didn't try out Virtanen on the PK last year. I can see him having a PK-style like Grabner with off the rush break-aways 

How can I say this without sounding like I'm criticizing JV - PK is one of the responsibilities on a team that requires above average 'hockey-sense'.  Speed alone - which JV has there's no doubt - won't in and of itself make a good PK guy.  I don't think anyone can objectively question any of the physical 'hockey-tools' that JV brings to the rink each night - his biggest criticism has always been 'hockey sense' so I can see whey he's not getting a lot of PK duty. 

 

That said, would I rather have someone like JV try his butt off on the PK rather than someone like LE, who has the hockey sense but lacks effort......well, that's another story:). 

[theo5789]

51 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

How can I say this without sounding like I'm criticizing JV - PK is one of the responsibilities on a team that requires above average 'hockey-sense'.  Speed alone - which JV has there's no doubt - won't in and of itself make a good PK guy.  I don't think anyone can objectively question any of the physical 'hockey-tools' that JV brings to the rink each night - his biggest criticism has always been 'hockey sense' so I can see whey he's not getting a lot of PK duty. 

 

That said, would I rather have someone like JV try his butt off on the PK rather than someone like LE, who has the hockey sense but lacks effort......well, that's another story:). 

Lack of effort and being smart positionally (generally something players with good hockey sense can do) is a fine line. If you can read the play well, why run around burning energy when you accomplish the same goal in the end? Not really defending LE here, but I think the lacks effort argument for LE doesn't hold much water IMO.

[Fanuck]

57 minutes ago, theo5789 said:

 Not really defending LE here, but I think the lacks effort argument for LE doesn't hold much water IMO.

Ask yourself this question - if LE had the same stats he's had over his 3 years here - but was unequivocally one of - if not THE - hardest working guy on the team night in/night out - would he be subject to the same levels of criticism here and in the general media?  My guess is he would still be considered overpaid, but people would be happy he was working hard every single shift in order to make up for his lack of scoring.  Sadly, imo, he's done neither while he's been here - work harder than everyone else or score that is. 

[theo5789]

14 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

Ask yourself this question - if LE had the same stats he's had over his 3 years here - but was unequivocally one of - if not THE - hardest working guy on the team night in/night out - would he be subject to the same levels of criticism here and in the general media?  My guess is he would still be considered overpaid, but people would be happy he was working hard every single shift in order to make up for his lack of scoring.  Sadly, imo, he's done neither while he's been here - work harder than everyone else or score that is. 

I think he absolutely would be criticized in the same manner because at the end of the day, he's being paid 6 million dollars to score, not skate around like a mad man. This "lack of effort" is simply people trying to find excuses to send him to the minors. Bottom line is he is an overpaid player for what he provides whatever it may be. He's proven that he's one of the better PK guys on the team and strangely enough this is because of the exact reason you brought up in why Virtanen shouldn't be on the PK. LE has the hockey sense to be positionally sound and thus being able to take on a "bottom 6" role unlike players like Lucic or Okposo who provide little else when their scoring dries up.

 

I've watched many "lazy" players and I don't think LE fits that criteria. So he only three 3 hits or whatever last season, Lucic led his team in hits and people are still saying he's one of the "worst players in the NHL". So LE simply doesn't play a style that people want to see and he's either snakebitten or simply has lost his hands, but that is not due to a lack of effort. People undervalue defensive play all the time and this seems to be no different.

 

Again, not defending LE here as I don't think he's worth his contract at all, but it's simply that he's paid to be a top 6 offensive forward and he isn't providing that. He shouldn't have made his comment to the media and that just added more fuel to the already raging fire, but that's likely stemming from from the fact that if they expect him to score more, then he needs to be put with players that can produce. He simply isn't a driver of the offense, but believes he is a good complementary piece. Hard to say if I agree with him or not, but he certainly hasn't been in a top 6 role for very long aside from the declining Sedins and a short stint with EP where he was indeed putting up numbers before trying to spark BB and bumping him off the line.