Player Discussion Milan Lucic V.2.0

[CycloneSweep]

Lucic has spent practically his entire career playing on top lines being asked to produce offence. In Boston he spent years with Krejci on their top line and with LA he spent the majority of his time with kopitar.

Lucic “at his best” has come strictly as a top 6 winger being asked to go out there and score. The coach can’t make him go out there and be a pit bull, he needs to do that himself.

Yes but when Lucic has struggled and had slow points, he would get dropped down the lineup.

 

[Da McBomb]

That play in the last few seconds of the game last night where McDavid was flying into the Calgary zone and passed it to Lucic on the boards.. I think any smart player would have given it right back to McDavid. BUT NOOOOO.. Lucic holds on to the damn puck instead and the rest is history. It's the constant dumb plays and giveaways like this that pisses me off when it comes to Lucic this year. Sure I can accept that his footspeed has gone downhill... but his hockey IQ and hands are just as bad now, which is unacceptable to me.

 

[McIce Whole]

Yes but when Lucic has struggled and had slow points, he would get dropped down the lineup.

Weird, it’s almost like he’s immune to this thing called accountability over here while others get held to a different standard .

 

[CycloneSweep]

Weird, it’s almost like he’s immune to this thing called accountability over here while others get held to a different standard .

And I can't blame Lucic for that as he doesn't make lineup decisions. I am sure he would go "coach keep me in" like most players do. And putting him down might piss him off but shit, you want to piss him off anyways.

 

[Aceboogie]

And I can't blame Lucic for that as he doesn't make lineup decisions. I am sure he would go "coach keep me in" like most players do. And putting him down might piss him off but ****, you want to piss him off anyways.

Nothing will piss Lucic off. Dude got rocked by 180 pound Thomas Hickey and he practically apologized to Hickey for getting in his way

 

[CupofOil]

Not ignoring it, but how many times does it need to be said that it was an obvious outlier?

It makes more sense if you believe, as I do, that last season was a mirage.

Maybe this season is the mirage? We have a 2 year sample size with one being great and one being poor. Naturally, one would say that the team is somewhere in between but we really don't know which is which because it's only a 2 year sample size, is it closer to last season or closer to this season?

Every team has injuries to deal with. The Jets have been banged up all year but they have depth to make up for it. Execution is harder to pin down but talent plays a role there too, as does coaching and pure luck. But those things are a lot easier to fix than having a bad roster with like eight fourth liners up front.

I was just piggybacking off your mention of injuries, it was obviously a factor even if it was a small one.
Again, as I said before, it's virtually the same roster that we had last season with the exception of Eberle to Puljujarvi, DD to Strome and Pouliot to Khaira so the roster last season was littered with flaws as well. I know, you think last season was a mirage but how many players had outlier seasons last year? I see Maroon and Letestu so why is it a mirage, who else had unsustainable success last season?

To simplify my stance, you said the reason for failure is simple "the roster isn't good". I don't think it's that simple although it's certainly a flawed roster and that's where we disagree.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Nothing will piss Lucic off. Dude got rocked by 180 pound Thomas Hickey and he practically apologized to Hickey for getting in his way

Good Canadian boy!

 

[Little Fury]

Maybe this season is the mirage? We have a 2 year sample size with one being great and one being poor. Naturally, one would say that the team is somewhere in between but we really don't know which is which because it's only a 2 year sample size, is it closer to last season or closer to this season?

Do you look at this roster, then look at the other elite teams in the league and honestly think the Oilers belong in their ranks?

I was just piggybacking off your mention of injuries, it was obviously a factor even if it was a small one.
Again, as I said before, it's virtually the same roster that we had last season with the exception of Eberle to Puljujarvi, DD to Strome and Pouliot to Khaira so the roster last season was littered with flaws as well. I know, you think last season was a mirage but how many players had outlier seasons last year? I see Maroon and Letestu so why is it a mirage, who else had unsustainable success last season?

In addition to those two? Lucic, Russell, Cagguila, Kassian, Talbot to some extent. Klefbom by virtue of actually playing a full season.

To simplify my stance, you said the reason for failure is simple "the roster isn't good". I don't think it's that simple although it's certainly a flawed roster and that's where we disagree.

I think that's what it boils down to and that's why injuries and poor execution are so much harder to overcome. Anyway, this is the Lucic thread, so I'll leave it at that for now.

 

[Little Fury]

Nothing will piss Lucic off. Dude got rocked by 180 pound Thomas Hickey and he practically apologized to Hickey for getting in his way

He got rocked last night as well and slunk off to the bench with a sheepish look on his face.

 

[McAsuno]

Its just infuriating how he doesn't give a shit. Remember the first game against the flames in the opening inaugural of Rogers Place? Engelland took a run at McDavid, and Lucic immediately challenged him to a fight. Last night? McDavid gets mauled down by a whole flames squad on the ice, and Lucic does absolutely nothing about it all game. What a pathetic ass player this year, just flat out unacceptable.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Its just infuriating how he doesn't give a ****. Remember the first game against the flames in the opening inaugural of Rogers Place? Engelland took a run at McDavid, and Lucic immediately challenged him to a fight. Last night? McDavid gets mauled down by a whole flames squad on the ice, and Lucic does absolutely nothing about it all game. What a pathetic ass player this year, just flat out unacceptable.

I wonder if he is having back issues? His whole game is crap and he's not even looking at playing overly physical (yes I know that he has a ton of hits, but not many are of the run guys through the boards variety). If he is not injured then he needs a massive kick in the ass to get going.

 

[CupofOil]

In addition to those two? Lucic, Russell, Cagguila, Kassian, Talbot to some extent. Klefbom by virtue of actually playing a full season.

We'll get off this discussion soon but I just wanted to address these points first.
Last season was one of the worst of Lucic's career especially at even strength (I'll add Nuge in there as well), it was par for the course for Russell, it was Cagguila's rookie season so what else is there to compare it to, Kassian had a few good years with the Canucks and Klefbom was simply a young player with high pedigree who got better. There's no reason to think those players couldn't replicate that success again. Maroon, Letestu and perhaps Talbot to some extent had career seasons that were unlikely to be replicated. Otherwise, I didn't see any outlier performances last season that were unsustainable.

 

[Aceboogie]

We'll get off this discussion soon but I just wanted to address these points. Last season was one of the worst of Lucic's career, it was par for the course for Russell, it was Cagguila's rookie season so what else is there to compare it to, Kassian had a few good years with the Canucks and Klefbom was simply a young player with high pedigree who got better. There's no reason to think those players couldn't replicate that success again. Maroon, Letestu and perhaps Talbot to some extent had career seasons that were unlikely to be replicated. Otherwise, I didn't see any outlier performances last season that were unsustainable.

I think the thing is that last year every player played up to expectation (even Lucic, who most were expectation to play so average from the get go) and a lot played waaay above expectation (Draisaitl, Klefbom, Maroon). We were operating at 120%, and that was the result. We should have expected to come back down to earth and play at the 80% range with injuries and underperformances etc. But instead we thought EVERYONE would continue to play as good, and even downgraded wingers we were so confident and cocky. Now we are seeing the impacts of playing at 80% with injuries and underperformances

 

[Raoul Duke]

Weird, it’s almost like he’s immune to this thing called accountability over here while others get held to a different standard .

Brought in to set the culture.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I wonder if he is having back issues? His whole game is crap and he's not even looking at playing overly physical (yes I know that he has a ton of hits, but not many are of the run guys through the boards variety). If he is not injured then he needs a massive kick in the ass to get going.

Yep.

With how the penalties are being called against us this year, and how Todd seems to talk about shit in general, I wouldn't be surprised if he has told the players to not fight back and take penalties.

If it was just Lucic I wouldn't think so but with Kassian, Maroon and Lucic all looking neutered this year, I believe it.

 

[nabob]

I think the thing is that last year every player played up to expectation (even Lucic, who most were expectation to play so average from the get go) and a lot played waaay above expectation (Draisaitl, Klefbom, Maroon). We were operating at 120%, and that was the result. We should have expected to come back down to earth and play at the 80% range with injuries and underperformances etc. But instead we thought EVERYONE would continue to play as good, and even downgraded wingers we were so confident and cocky. Now we are seeing the impacts of playing at 80% with injuries and underperformances

That's simply not true.

Nuge, Eberle, Lucic - the entire second line played below expectations.

Nurse also played below expectations.

Draisaitl is actually playing better (minus the PP) than he did last year.

The biggest issue for players "regressing" this year is due to the lack of PP production. Both our top Dmen on the PP have been injured and playing very poorly all year. That makes a huge difference.

 

[oXo Cube]

The biggest issue for players regressing is Cam Talbot. He went from a Vezina caliber season to barely(and maybe not even) starter quality.

Obviously that would hurt anybody, but the fact that we're one of the worst teams in the league without all star goaltending demonstrates to me that the roster is very poorly constructed.

 

[McIce Whole]

And I can't blame Lucic for that as he doesn't make lineup decisions. I am sure he would go "coach keep me in" like most players do. And putting him down might piss him off but ****, you want to piss him off anyways.

I honestly think Lucic would be a whole lot better this season if Mclellan bumped him down the line up and gave him more sheltered minutes to figure things out and get his head out of his ass. Instead, he has him playing with Connor or Drai night in and night out. The stubbornness McLellan displays pisses me off.

 

[Soundwave]

Craig Simpson ripping Lucic pretty hard on Oilers Now, lol.

He said when the contract was signed it was going to be a bad one for the Oilers by the second year.

Doesn't believe Lucic will bounce back either, says he's on the downside of his career.

 

[lakai17]

Craig Simpson ripping Lucic pretty hard on Oilers Now, lol.

He said when the contract was signed it was going to be a bad one for the Oilers by the second year.

If Simpson can comprehend on that then it speaks for itself.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Craig Simpson ripping Lucic pretty hard on Oilers Now, lol.

He said when the contract was signed it was going to be a bad one for the Oilers by the second year.

Doesn't believe Lucic will bounce back either, says he's on the downside of his career.

Where are the posters that questioned us stating this when Lucic was first signed? This was always going to be the case.

The Only difference is I said we might get two reasonable seasons out of Lucic and the 3rd and on would be terrible.

 

[oobga]

 

[Bryanbryoil]

He was much better in the first half of the season, that's the one thing that gives me hope for him going forward. It's pretty damn hard to see any other reasons to think that he will improve.

 

[StevenF1919]

He was much better in the first half of the season, that's the one thing that gives me hope for him going forward. It's pretty damn hard to see any other reasons to think that he will improve.

He was pretty brutal in the first half too honestly, just not as bad as now. His EV production sucked last year as well and his point totals were inflated by PP numbers. I don't think we see him even get 40 points again.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

He was pretty brutal in the first half too honestly, just not as bad as now. His EV production sucked last year as well and his point totals were inflated by PP numbers. I don't think we see him even get 40 points again.

He was at least producing and wasn't the play killing machine that he is now. He may never get there again but hopefully he can at least be a useful player on the 3rd line, anything less is a complete disaster.