Canucks sign Loui Eriksson to a six-year, $36 million deal

On the first day of NHL free agency, the Vancouver Canucks signed former Boston Bruins forward Loui Eriksson to a six-year, $36 million deal. Eriksson leaves the Bruins after coming to them from the Tyler Seguin trade in 2013. The Bruins elected not to deal Eriksson at the trade deadline and ended up missing the playoffs despite keeping him.

OFFICIAL: #Canucks sign forward Loui Eriksson to six-year deal

RELEASE → https://t.co/38ewhmiSZt pic.twitter.com/S0v2Uv6Nfl

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 1, 2016

Eriksson, 30, recorded 30 goals and 33 assists in a full 82 games this year with the Boston Bruins. Eriksson has 504 points in 725 NHL games and saw most of his success come with the Dallas Stars, where he had three seasons of more than 70 points, as opposed to none in Boston.

Eriksson will be a likely candidate to join Daniel and Henrik Sedin on a tremendous top line in Vancouver. The move gives the team top line offense and moves players such as Jannik Hansen and Alex Burrows into more suitable roles.

The move to add offense became more likely as soon as the Canucks flipped young center Jared McCann in a trade with the Florida Panthers that netted them top young defenseman Erik Gudbranson. The Canucks will now look to add another defenseman to play with Lucas Sbisa, but have largely made the big moves they need to move back into playoff contention.