Can Lucic bounce back?

[Mr Positive]

His last 5-10 games have looked like he has gained a step, and his hands seem to work again . Hopefully I'm not seeing a mirage and he comes in next season playing like this . If we play him 14-16 minutes a game he can be a valuable player for us.

for sure that one line has been very good, but they still aren't getting goals yet. It's close though. They are getting lots of great chances. I think JP will be off that line before long though, as I believe he is 1st or 2nd line material once he hits his stride.

 

[nightfighter]

Lucic needs to call his buddy Dustin brown up and ask him what training he did last off season so he can try and replicate it.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Lucic needs to reinvent his game.

Crash the net. Run the goalie and the crease. Manhandle Dman.

 

[Tyrolean]

No and we don't want him back.

 

[SaltNPeca]

I think he genuinely cares and wants to contribute to the team but is frustrated. I think he'll make some changes in the off season to improve his speed. He'll probably bounce between the 2nd and 3rd line and put up 40+ points next year.

I wanted to say "define bounce back". This guys peak is ~60 points, and let's say 40-55 points should be a decent season as he ages. So if he puts up 40+ points this year... then did he somehow actually produce near expectations?

I really feel the Edmonton fans are over critical of players ESPECIALLY big players who don't play a skill game or skill players who don't play tough (e.g. Eberle). You sign an ogre, then constantly complain about his ogre-ishness. I imagine the fan-base and media criticisms are in the ogres head now. So what' y'all are saying is he's gonna spend the offseason training skills, drop down to 205, and finish his career as the next Jean Béliveau?

I honestly hope he trains his strength & conditioning, rests, and focuses on coming out as the wrecking-ball we all know he can be for 2018-19. He should be an intimidating big body who creates room for his teammates and chipping in for 50 points. A role player needs to play his role on a functioning team. Tigers don't change their stripes boyos.

 

[HenrikW]

I would love to have Lucic back on Draisaitls wing. Yes, he needs to lose weight and reinvent himself. But he's a hockey scholar, he understand what he needs to do during the offseason to get things clicking. The game got faster over night with the crackdown on slashing and Lucic can't keep up like this.

It's not only his production that has been lacking, he hasn't been playing his normal physical game. If he can push ~20 goals, 45points all while playing more physically he will fill a role. He won't be worth his money but we're not gonna get rid of him so all we can hope is for him to play a role again.

 

[Tyrolean]

If there's a will, there's a way .. to get rid of Lucic. It's dragging the team down cap wise and play wise. 6 Million should get you a excellent player not a barely 4th liner. Otherwise fire Chia.

 

[LTIR]

Bounce back to what? The diff between this Lucic and the Lucic of old is about 10 whiffs/posts by him that shouldve gone in.

He has always been this slow and bad defensively .. this yr he has as many hits and as many assists as last yr.. only dif is 10 less goals.

 

[Killer Z]

In short, yes he can. It's not as if he is coming out of a 2 year retirement, he just needs to get back to the way he was playing last season, and/or October and November of this season.

The above will require some work on his part this offseason, which I am confident he will put in. I expect him to be on Drai's line next season, with a 15-20 goal / 40-50 point effort.

 

[guymez]

Lucic interview on Spittin Chiclets. Interview starts at the 43:00 mark.....

Barstool Sports

Excellent interview IMO....Oiler content is towards the end of the interview.

 

[lakai17]

Todd needs to utilize Lucic properly.

There is no reason to run Lucic 20+ minutes a night consecutively.

 

[ujju2]

Can he? Yes. Will he? Don't ask me, I'm no prophet. I sure hope he does and I think he can, though.

 

[The Bored Man]

Lucic interview on Spittin Chiclets. Interview starts at the 43:00 mark.....

Barstool Sports

Excellent interview IMO....Oiler content is towards the end of the interview.

Portions are transcribed here: Milan Lucic gives rave review to Oilers organization and says: "I was almost my own worst enemy"

 

[Drivesaitl]

Don't really give a flying f*** about this player. Sad he's been an Oiler or ever was. if this chapter ended and they somehow managed to trade his sorry ass I'd break out clapping.

Rue the day when this contract was signed.

Everything this floater says in the interview should not ever happen to a vet player.

Yes you can have scoring dry spells. yes you can struggle to produce at times, no, this should not mean that every semblance of your game falls part into pig manure. I mean we're talking a guy that stopped even receiving or making a pass. Theres no excuse for what Lucic allowed to occur last season for most of the season.

I dislike this guy even more after the interview.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Interesting comment about the reigning Heavyweight Champ. "They had that poll last year, everyone crowned Reaves as the current champ, we'll see how this year goes and we'll see if he's still that by the end of the year"

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I wonder if Looch suffers from depression? The lack of sunlight in the winter is what he pointed towards in terms of the winters being tough. I hope that he is working his tail off and that he does come in with a more positive attitude next season. Whether you like or despise him, he is an Oiler that our team is heavily invested in so hoping for the best from him is in our best interest.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I wonder if Looch suffers from depression? The lack of sunlight in the winter is what he pointed towards in terms of the winters being tough. I hope that he is working his tail off and that he does come in with a more positive attitude next season. Whether you like or despise him, he is an Oiler that our team is heavily invested in so hoping for the best from him is in our best interest.

I purposely liked the post, and want to abide, but the case of Lucic is just too much. This is a Canadian player basically crying about what winter is here. It defies description really. For a player that has spent his career constantly showing off how tough he is its worthy of derision that he's staying the things he is stating in the article. SAD? I dunno, a pro hockey player in NA is on roadtrips lots of times getting away from the short winter hours and temps here. Also his work requires games and practice. He is not a 9-5 worker working inside during all daylight hours. He can get outside and enjoy some sun even on the coldest days.

Really, and sorry to say this but the Lucic complaints about winter here would have to be one of the most ridiculous things I've heard any Canadian player cite as a reason for their poor performance. Really its off the charts. It seems as if Lucic is trying to find ways to explain how off he was. Even to himself.

That this guy was brought in to be a leader because "he's a guy of solid character" according to Chia and that he has a captaincy role on this club is disgusting. This guy laid down and is looking for any excuse to explain away his atrocious effort and lack of focus for most of a season.

People say this is a hard on players market. A lot of markets would demand this player not continue to be on a team. Ironically even in Boston Lucic would now be found not to be the right kind of team mate.

 

[Mr Positive]

He could bounce back, but that's not saying much considering how bad he was in the last part of the season. He could have a big bounce back season but still not be worth his salary. I think in short order he could be okay, but basically an overpaid 3rd liner. I still believe he could be part of the solution on the powerplay.

 

[BudBundy]

Well, at least I like that he didn't blame his garbage season on anyone or anything, really, other than himself. I don't know what else Milan had going on in his life, so no point in commenting. The sad fact is that everyone with a functional brain stem knew his contract was going to be a terrible deal soon. It just happened in the second year instead of the third of fourth as expected. He may bounce back to a 15 goal/40 point guy. He may show a pulse and actually try to impose his will on the opposition the odd time. Thats the best we can hope for. From here on, the most realistic forecast is simply more of the same.

 

[Louis Cypher]

I think he will definately bounce back. Onus isnt just on him. Coaches have to use him accordingly and not at the expense of the team losing.

On a side note Tom Wilson gets $5.17 for having his best year ever while just beating Lucic's worst year by 1 point. If Wilson goes back to his norm that will be one of the worst contracts in the league. I realize he's young and they are paying for potential but yikes that could blow up real good.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Lucic could hit 40 pts this season and still not be of contractual value albeit if all of it occurred in bottomsix (It won't) argument could be made that its a very helpful contribution.

Whatever he brings doesn't erase he wss one of the reasons this team struggled enormously throughout the season. Pulling the plug on the season at Xmas is inexcusable from somebody wearing an A, making 6M longterm, and expected to be a vet leader on this club. Really the absence of someone like Hendricks, Maroon and you wonder even if it impacts accountability. Both Kass and Lucic layed down this season perhaps feeling comfortable, or just not having anybody in the room they have to answer to at all.

Hendricks and Maroon are just the type of individuals who bring a level of effort and comments and interaction that it makes it harder for anybody to dog it on the team. Ironically Lucic was brought in to be one of those hard work mentors (which is a joke in itself as he's rarely that) but for him to be a dog f***er on the team is just incredibly disappointing. Its like he's giving Chia a one finger salute. He may as well be. Lucic has been so toxically bad it basically becomes a reason Chia has been on the hotseat not only for acquiring this player but signing him longterm and even defending his play this season and not being worried about it because "Lucic is a solid character guy" What does that even mean other than nothing considering what we see from Milan in actual on ice play?

 

[RebuildTheRebuild]

I felt like with Lucic's time so far with Edmonton is that he seemed to really lag behind the play at even strength. He just seems too slow to keep up and with him not being able to keep up he can't use his physicality to create space. I feel like what doesn't help the situation is giving him a lot more minutes than he can handle. Another problem was just the poor PP in general. I feel like to get the most value out of Lucic is to give him limited minutes at even strength and then hopefully a new PP system that he can be effective in. The contract sucks and we are going to just have to get the most out of him that we can.

 

[Louis Cypher]

I agree on Hendricks but not on Maroon. I could be totally wrong but I got the impression he is a me first type of guy. Yeah he did his job when flying on CMD's coattails but I never thought of him as a leader at all. Didn't do much away from McDavid.

Lucic could hit 40 pts this season and still not be of contractual value albeit if all of it occurred in bottomsix (It won't) argument could be made that its a very helpful contribution.

Whatever he brings doesn't erase he wss one of the reasons this team struggled enormously throughout the season. Pulling the plug on the season at Xmas is inexcusable from somebody wearing an A, making 6M longterm, and expected to be a vet leader on this club. Really the absence of someone like Hendricks, Maroon and you wonder even if it impacts accountability. Both Kass and Lucic layed down this season perhaps feeling comfortable, or just not having anybody in the room they have to answer to at all.

Hendricks and Maroon are just the type of individuals who bring a level of effort and comments and interaction that it makes it harder for anybody to dog it on the team. Ironically Lucic was brought in to be one of those hard work mentors (which is a joke in itself as he's rarely that) but for him to be a dog ****er on the team is just incredibly disappointing. Its like he's giving Chia a one finger salute. He may as well be. Lucic has been so toxically bad it basically becomes a reason Chia has been on the hotseat not only for acquiring this player but signing him longterm and even defending his play this season and not being worried about it because "Lucic is a solid character guy" What does that even mean other than nothing considering what we see from Milan in actual on ice play?

 

[Porkleaker]

Oh great, he's focusing on his mental game, so that probably means he'll be the same speed as last year, a potato on ice.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Yes.