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Julien points to Eriksson as answer to Iginla departure

louierikssongetty

James OBrien

Up against the cap, the Boston Bruins lost unrestricted free agent Jarome Iginla to the Colorado Avalanche over the summer. Watching a 30-goal scorer walk away is tough, but Bruins coach Claude Julien doesn’t seem too concerned.

“We lost Jarome, but I think Loui Eriksson is a player that can be even better than he was last year,” Julien told NHL.com. “I think we started seeing that at the end of the year and he could be a replacement for Jarome.”

After being acquired last summer as part of the Tyler Seguin deal, Eriksson had just 10 goals and 37 points in 61 games in 2013-14. However, he also suffered two concussions, which contributed to his campaign being derailed.

If Eriksson is able to mesh with Milan Lucic and David Krejci on the Bruins’ top line, then Patrice Bergeron, Reilly Smith, and Brad Marchand might round out the top six. Chris Kelly (back) missed the playoffs, but he’s expected to be fine for the start of the 2014-15 campaign and should play on the third line with Carl Soderberg.

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