VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks are hoping adding veteran winger Loui Eriksson will bring some offensive punch to a team that missed the NHL playoffs last year while struggling to score goals.

Eriksson signed a six-year deal worth US$36 million. The native of Goteborg, Sweden, scored 30 goals and collected 63 points with the Boston Bruins last season.

In 10 NHL seasons split between the Dallas Stars and Boston, the six-foot-two, 183-pound Eriksson has 212 goals and 292 assists in 725 NHL games.

The Canucks also bolstered their blue line by acquiring defenceman Philip Larsen in a trade from Edmonton. Larsen signed a one-year deal worth US$1,025,000.

"When we went through the process this summer thinking about how we can get our team better, we wanted to up the skill level of our team," said Jim Benning, Vancouver's general manager. "I think today we were able to do that with Loui and Philip Larsen on the back end.

"They are both power-play guys. Loui, his ability to use his reach around the net and get scoring opportunities. We felt to add to our skill level, to get our power play better, we had a good day today."

Eriksson turned down a shorter-term contract offer from Boston to move to Vancouver, where he is expected to play on a line with twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin. He knows he's joining a team that is trying to rebuild.

"I've played against Vancouver many times and I know they have a lot of potential and good players on the team," he said. "I am really excited to come and try to help them out."

The Canucks had the third-worst record in the NHL last season, finishing 31-38-13 for 75 points. The team also scored just 191 goals, second least in the league, and their power play was ranked 27th.

Benning isn't concerned that Eriksson, who turns 31 in July, will be joining a team led by the Sedins, who will be 36 in September.

"He always keeps himself in great shape," said Benning. "He looks after himself.

"We have some good young players that we have drafted that are going to start playing for us. He is a good role model in the room for them. Even though he is a little bit older, he's going to help our team be competitive now and he is going to help our young kids going forward in the future."

Eriksson has played with the Sedins at the Olympics and world championships. He's excited about working with them again in Vancouver. Eriksson spoke with Daniel Sedin about Vancouver earlier in the week.

"They are two smart players," he said. "It was easier for me when I first played with them to get chemistry with them because we kind of played the same way. We like to give the puck and get it back from each other."

To get Larsen, the Canucks traded a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2017 draft to Edmonton.

"He's a good skater," said Benning. "He has the ability to walk the line and get shots through from the point."

Vancouver also signed forward Jayson Megna to a one-year, US$600,000 deal.

Megna, 26, split last season between the New York Rangers and the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack. In six games with the Rangers, the six-foot-one, 195-pound native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had one goal and one assist. In 68 games with Hartford, he had 15 goals and 29 assists.

In other moves, Vancouver signed forwards Michael Chaput and Borna Rendulic and defenceman Chad Billins each to a one-year, two-way contracts.

One player the Canucks lost is defenceman Dan Hamhuis, who signed a two-year, US$7.5 million deal with Dallas.

Benning said obtaining defenceman Erik Gudbranson in a trade with Florida made Hamhuis expandable.

"We were in contact with him (Hamhuis) all the way until about a week ago," said Benning. "We decided that getting Gudbranson, we are going to go with a younger group on the back end."

With the Edmonton Oilers signing Milan Lucic and the Calgary Flames adding Troy Brouwer, two of Vancouver's division rivals have gotten bigger and tougher.

Benning said the Canucks will continue to look to add players.

"We're talking to teams now," he said. "It would probably be more of a trade scenario now.

"We still have a little bit of money to spend on the cap. We're going to continue to talk to teams and if we can make our team better, we are going to try to continue to do that."