Nearly one year after the Tyler Seguin trade, Cam Neely thinks the centerpiece Boston got in return has room for improvement.
“Loui [Eriksson] came in and it was a difficult transition for him, and then he got hurt,” Neely said on Tuesday at the B’s annual year-end presser. “We think he can be a better player.”
Eriksson, 28, missed 21 games with a pair of concussions and a heel injury this season, which limited his production -- just 10 goals and 37 points in 61 games, a .61 points-per-game average.
The worry, of course, is that ’13-14 marked the second straight season Eriksson’s production took a hit. He was at a .60 ppg average during the lockout-shortened ’13 campaign in Dallas, a noticeable dropoff for a guy that recorded three-straight 70-plus point campaigns from 2009-11 (his point-per-game averages in those three years? .87, .92 and .87)
Not helping Eriksson’s cause was the fact Seguin enjoyed good success in his first year in Dallas, finishing fourth in the NHL in points (84) while pacing the Stars to their first playoff appearance in five years.
Eriksson, meanwhile, spent the majority of the year on Boston’s third line -- albeit a very good third line -- and didn’t do much in the playoffs, scoring just two goals and five points in 12 games. Eriksson was also a collective minus-4 in the final two losses to Montreal, going pointless with just three total shots on goal.
As such, Neely made no bones about the B’s needing more from the Swedish winger, who has two seasons left on his six-year, $25.5 million deal with a $4.25 million average annual cap hit.
“He’s proven to be a better player,” Neely said. “That’s our expectation, that he can be a better player.”
