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And the notion of him scoring anywhere close to 30 goals seems foolish now.

That doesn’t mean he’s played poorly, though.

On a team that gets buried in the puck possession battle most nights, Eriksson is a positive possession player with the Canucks controlling 52.3 per cent of all even-strength shot attempts when he’s on the ice.

That mark is tops among Canuck regulars and is actually above Eriksson’s career average (51.9 per cent). And he’s scoring goals at a per-game rate this season that is only slightly below his career mark.

It’s easy to get drawn to the 30-goals he scored with the Bruins a year ago and say Eriksson has been a massive disappointment.

The truth of the matter is that he worked the system to his benefit, cashing in on the second-best goal scoring season of his 10-year National Hockey League career in a contract year.

He’s certainly not the first guy to do that.

This season is looking very much like his second to last season in Boston (2014-15) when Eriksson scored 22 goals and had 47 points with six of his goals coming on the power play. Right now, he’s projected to finish with 18 goals — nine on the power play — and 40 points.

Underwhelming? Sure, those hardly have the look of a game-breaker or a difference maker especially for $6 million a season.

But it’s become apparent Eriksson isn’t flashy and isn’t likely to take control of hockey games — especially given the way he’s been deployed for most of the season. Nearly 40 games in and it’s still unclear whether Eriksson’s on the team’s second or third line.