One of the biggest decisions that any team had heading into the NHL trade deadline was the Boston Bruins with free-agent-to-be forward Loui Eriksson and whether or not they would keep him in the hopes of re-signing him, or trade him rather than risk losing him for nothing after the season.
In the end, they decided to keep him.
The Bruins did not make a deal involving Eriksson before the NHL's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline on Monday, meaning that he will remain with the team through at least the end of the 2015-16 season. The team had been trying to re-sign him to a new contract before the deadline but have been unable to reach an agreement to this point.
It was a tough call for the Bruins because Eriksson has been a huge part of their offense this season, and their offense has been perhaps the single biggest reason they are still in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race. They added to that offense on Monday by adding Lee Stempniak from the New Jersey Devils.
With 48 points entering play on Monday he is tied for second on the team in scoring. The Bruins are the third-highest scoring team in the NHL this season. That would not have been an easy player to replace as they move toward the playoffs, which is why keeping him is probably the right move even if they are unable to re-sign him after the season.
Unless they were getting a significant upgrade on defense in return (which would have been difficult given the contract situation), they probably weren't going to make themselves better in the short-term if they did trade him. At least this way they still have what has been a big part of their offense this season to make some sort of a run in the playoffs. It is is a very flawed team, but they are still likely headed to the playoffs in conference that still really only has one truly dominant team (Washington). A team with Tuukka Rask, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Zdeno Chara, as well as Brad Marchand and Eriksson having the seasons they are, is going to have a shot in a best-of-seven series. You can't just punt on that because you're afraid of losing the guy for nothing.
If the Bruins are to be criticized for anything on Monday it shouldn't be for not trading Eriksson, it should be not finding a way to upgrade their defense (they did add John Michale-Liles, but that probably isn't going to be enough to make a difference).
The next question for the Bruins when it comes to Eriksson is whether or not they want to pay him his market value, and it's almost certainly not going to be cheap. The Bruins' salary cap situation is always tight and Marchand will be entering the final year of his contract next season and is on the verge of getting what should be a massive deal thanks to his breakout year offensively this year. Given the ages of the two players, Marchand should be the priority going forward.
