Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Bruins GM talks backup plans if Iginla leaves

Boston Bruins v Montreal Canadiens - Game Three

MONTREAL, QC - MAY 6: Jarome Iginla #12 of the Boston Bruins looks on during a face-off against the Montreal Canadiens in Game Three of the Second Round of the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre on May 6, 2014 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Laplante/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The Boston Bruins aren’t ruling out the possibility of Jarome Iginla coming back for a second season, but they’re also putting together a gameplan in case he finds the kind of deal he’s looking for.

For one thing, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli believes that Loui Eriksson could slide into Iginla’s spot on the top line with Milan Lucic and David Krejci, CSNNE.com reports.

“I have to hedge in case we don’t sign Jarome,” Chiarelli said. “I have no problem if we have to put Loui on that top line. He’s played on top lines before and he’s played with the Sedins in the Olympics, and he was terrific. He’s better suited for an upper line. If that’s what we have to do then we’ll do it. I’m trying to be patient with this because I really feel at one point there’s going to be a player that will fit, and want to come here.”

How would Eriksson fit in?

Eriksson would be an interesting choice. The 28-year-old indeed ran shotgun with Jamie Benn for years in Dallas, often earning recognition as one of the NHL’s most underrated wingers during his time with the Stars. His two-way play could make him a hit in Boston - particularly with head coach Claude Julien - if he can avoid the kind of injury troubles that plagued his debut season with the B’s.

It would be a chance of pace, though. Lucic and Krejci have been rolling with big-bodied wingers who possessed big right-handed shots in Iginla and Nathan Horton before him. Eriksson’s not tiny by any stretch, yet he’s a left-handed winger whose style is more finesse-based.

Waiting game

There’s always the possibility that the Bruins add a forward in free agency, although Chiarelli made it clear that he’s “not going to go out hard to find a replacement for two reasons: the annual cost and the term.”

Term is the main sticking point with Iginla, as the Bruins would prefer to replicate the one-year, incentive-laden deal they gave the 36-year-old last time around.

If he finds that term somewhere else, it doesn’t sound like Boston will be scrambling for answers.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins