Former Canuck Loui Eriksson shares sad reason his family left Vancouver
When the Vancouver Canucks signed Loui Eriksson, he was coming off a 30-goal season with the Boston Bruins.
Canucks general manager Jim Benning hoped that Eriksson could rekindle his chemistry with Daniel and Henrik Sedin from times they had played together in international competition. If all went well, Eriksson would provide a boost to the late-career Sedins and get the Canucks back to the playoffs.
All did not go well.
Eriksson’s struggles in Vancouver became emblematic of the Benning-era Canucks, but as frustrating as it may have been for Canucks fans, it was doubly so for Eriksson himself, who had surely imagined a much different end to his long NHL career.
What’s worse is that Eriksson felt both he and his family were treated poorly in Vancouver.
“It was just so damn awful”
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This past week, Loui Eriksson spoke to Göteborgs-Posten, a major Swedish newspaper, about a wide range of topics, including his time with the Vancouver Canucks. The writer of the article, Johan Rylander, shared a translation of Eriksson’s comments with Trevor Beggs of Daily Hive.
In the article, Eriksson shared why he moved his family from Vancouver back to their long-term home in Dallas in the 2019 offseason.
“My kids were obviously wearing my jersey — and people screamed at them,” said Eriksson. “People just couldn’t behave themselves. It was just so damn awful.”
That is inexcusable behaviour. While most Canucks fans wouldn’t dream of taking out their frustrations on the family members of the players, all it takes is the few who do to leave a lasting impression.
That left the Erikssons wanting to remove their children from that environment. The last straw was when his youngest of three daughters couldn’t get into the school attended by her older sisters, as the school believed Eriksson and his family would be leaving soon, perhaps thinking Eriksson would be traded.
“Loui and his wife Micaela made a joint decision,” reported Rylander. “It was better for the family to move back to Dallas. And there, at his former club, the Stars, the organization welcomed them with open arms.”
Eriksson, meanwhile, stayed with the Canucks for two more seasons before he was traded to the Arizona Coyotes as part of the deal for Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland. That deal also didn’t end well for Benning and the Canucks.
“Behind the scenes […] turned negative and toxic”
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While Eriksson struggled in Vancouver, he felt that the team didn’t provide the support he needed.
“It feels like I gave it my all to earn a spot in Vancouver,” said Eriksson. “But they wanted to change the very things that had brought me success in the past. I’ve always played a two-way game; that’s been my strength. My goals came from solid defensive play, strong forechecking, and battling in front of the net.
“I had a great contract — I really did. Naturally, people expected me to deliver, perform, and do my best. But there was too much going on behind the scenes that turned negative and toxic.”
Eriksson wouldn’t be the first to point out the toxic environment surrounding the Canucks in that era. As fans became frustrated as the team continually missed the playoffs, internal disagreements led to the departure of Canucks legend Trevor Linden, who stepped down as president of hockey operations two years after Eriksson was signed.
But Eriksson implied there were also conflicts with the coaching staff. Willie Desjardins was head coach of the Canucks in Eriksson’s first season in Vancouver, but was then replaced by Travis Green.
“It was an uphill battle the whole time,” said Eriksson. “I always ranked high in all the physical and skating tests, but it was never enough. They always found reasons to push me hard. When you’re in a negative environment every day, you’re mentally tested, and there were periods when I think I just got through it all on autopilot.”
While Eriksson felt supported by his fellow players, he said there was a “culture of silence,” and that the way he was treated by the media made it difficult for anyone to speak up for him.
“The media is powerful in Vancouver, and I was simply singled out as the scapegoat,” he said. “They could find something negative about almost anything. That’s just how it turned out. I got that label pretty quickly — and I found it hard to shake that reputation.”
Between his big contract and the team’s struggles, Eriksson took the brunt of criticism from fans, the media, and, according to him, the team itself. It would be tough for anyone to succeed in that kind of environment.
“It was tough, because obviously, you want to perform and do well,” said Eriksson. “Yet it was hard dealing with that feeling — that in every game, you were almost playing against both the opposition and your own club. That you didn’t have them backing you up. That was really tough.”