Six years, $36 Million; every Vancouver Canucks fan has memorized those numbers by now. That is the contract that general manager Jim Benning gave to unrestricted free agent Loui Eriksson in the summer of 2016.
The idea was simple: the Canucks were coming off a terrible 2015-16 season. Management believed they could improve the next season and compete for a playoff spot. To do that, they needed more production from their top-six.
So, why not bring in a proven top-six forward, and one who had played with Henrik and Daniel Sedin internationally?