Rumor: Oilers asking teams interested in Puljujarvi to take Lucic's contract

[405Exit]

There's never been a contract as bad as Lucic's that wasn't an insured LTIR contract dumped. (Clarkson was an entirely different scenario)

There is no guarantee that a new team is able to successfully develop Puljujarvi. He's at best worth a mid to late 1st round pick right now. If the report was that the Oilers would attach the 20th pick in the draft with Lucic's contract, would you expect teams to take him on?

The problem with Lucic's contract is that there's loads of money owed including signing bonuses, and lockout bonuses. This disqualifies the more frugal teams from helping the Oilers.

The other problem is it's not just a bad AAV, it's a bad AAV attached to a long term. A team like the Rangers who are rebuilding and have deep pockets might not want to commit to taking a contract that they'll have to keep on their books well beyond when their rebuild should have momentum.

There's also the idea of leverage. If there are so few teams able to take him, the unique team who can help the Oilers will not do it for just Puljujarvi. There's multiple historical cap dump trades that dictate the cost should be higher.

I agree. Well said.

 

[belair]

A team with the willingness to retain 50% of Lucic to flip him to a third team would have interest in a deal like this. There are teams who'd value Looch's game at $3m.

Hard to see it happening though.

 

[JarvisFunk]

People on here are hilarious. The thought of the Oilers actually being able to move the Lucic contract drives you all insane.

 

[Gargyn]

Lol good luck with that. Puljujarvi would have to actually be decent for a team to want to do that.

 

[Fazkovsky]

For a bag of pucks

 

[BK201]

Honestly at this point Lucic might even help Ottawa.

 

[Patch101]

Ottawa could and might do this if they don't retain Stone.
but Edm would have to pay out a good part of his salary I would think too

 

[XXIV97]

There's never been a contract as bad as Lucic's that wasn't an insured LTIR contract dumped. (Clarkson was an entirely different scenario)

There is no guarantee that a new team is able to successfully develop Puljujarvi. He's at best worth a mid to late 1st round pick right now. If the report was that the Oilers would attach the 20th pick in the draft with Lucic's contract, would you expect teams to take him on?

The problem with Lucic's contract is that there's loads of money owed including signing bonuses, and lockout bonuses. This disqualifies the more frugal teams from helping the Oilers.

The other problem is it's not just a bad AAV, it's a bad AAV attached to a long term. A team like the Rangers who are rebuilding and have deep pockets might not want to commit to taking a contract that they'll have to keep on their books well beyond when their rebuild should have momentum.

There's also the idea of leverage. If there are so few teams able to take him, the unique team who can help the Oilers will not do it for just Puljujarvi. There's multiple historical cap dump trades that dictate the cost should be higher.

If the Oilers do this trade after July 1st, the acquiring team would only have to pay 16 M over four years (4M per year) , with 53% coming in SB

 

[serp]

Yeah thats a tall task .

 

[DaveG]

30 teams in the NHL can turn Puljujarvi into a star player, Edmonton cannot. Trading teams gets him cheap but take on an expensive contract for 4 years.
I can see a few teams that might be interested ...Vegas, Carolina, Montreal

The Hawks had to give up Teravainen to get out from the last year of Bickell's contract. The price on getting out from this is going to be a LOT higher for Edmonton considering the term remaining.

 

[BlueDream]

Larry Brooks doesn’t have a ****ing clue what’s going on with the Oilers.

To be fair I don’t think Oilers management knows what’s going on with the Oilers either. Brooks’ guess is as good as theirs.

 

[belair]

People on here are hilarious. The thought of the Oilers actually being able to move the Lucic contract drives you all insane.

He'll get moved eventually.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

This is reasonable.



This is not, in any way.

Asking someone to take on Lucic's contract for Puljujarvi is completely unreasonable. Go back and look at the kind of prices that have been attached to cap dumps previously, most of which have been insured LTIR cap dumps.

Oilers won't dump Lucic's contract because a "reasonable" price will be too high for them, and what they are offering won't be reasonable to other teams. It would take an incredibly unique situation for the Oilers to pull this off.

 

[BlueDream]

People on here are hilarious. The thought of the Oilers actually being able to move the Lucic contract drives you all insane.

Why would anyone care? Lol

 

[Pi]

Puljujarvi isn't good enough to dump Lucic.

 

[SFKingshomer]

Lucic at 50% maybe.

 

[Seachd]

Asking someone to take on Lucic's contract for Puljujarvi is completely unreasonable. Go back and look at the kind of prices that have been attached to cap dumps previously, most of which have been insured LTIR cap dumps.

Oilers won't dump Lucic's contract because a "reasonable" price will be too high for them, and what they are offering won't be reasonable to other teams. It would take an incredibly unique situation for the Oilers to pull this off.

I’m saying your opinion on Puljujarvi not having enough value to attach Lucic is reasonable.

I’m also saying trading an unprotected first just to get rid of him is ridiculous and something Gretzky said he absolutely is not looking to do.

 

[rynryn]

Oilers asking, and teams saying LOL

 

[Phaneufasaurus Rex]

Lucic + Poolparty for Kesler
Flame away!

 

[Freudian]

 

[Tripod]

Lucic is due a 3 million signing bonus July 1st. No one is taking him before then at the very least. After that, he is owed 16 million for 4 years....so 4 million per. That is at least a BIT better.

I would not want my team to take those 2 for futures. The 4 years of Lucic is just too awful for the odds of Pool turning into anything.

 

[Alklha]

To be fair, the Oilers retaining $1.5-$2 million on Lucic's contract makes that a much easier move with adding Puljujarvi. Lucic at $4.5 million and Puljujarvi for a 4th is similar to the Bickell and Terevainen for a 2nd trade that happened a couple years ago.

It isn't really similar though.

1 year of $3m in dead cap space, after burying the contract, and $4.5m in salary isn't that problematic for a number of teams. 4 years of dead cap space and $14m+, depending on the extent of the retention, in actual salary is a lot more problematic.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I mean sure but still would be a limited market no? Seems like more of an offseason deal anyhow.

Maybe 3-4 teams would be interested if EDM retains $2million on Toucan?

Yeah it would definitely be an off-season move and there would still be a limited market. I just think that they could find a taker.

I actually think Lucic is a little underrated at this point. If you have the cap space, having Lucic at $4 million or so in your bottom-6 isn't the end of the world. He seems to be good defensively based on his shot metrics, is lauded for his leadership skills and plays physical. Who knows, maybe he can get back some of his past self as a net front PP guy with a move to a competent team. If he gets back to what he was in 2017-2018 (35 points with good possession stats), he's fine in your bottom-6 for $4 million and you get Puljujarvi for free.

 

[Dahlin 2 Eichel]

I would give them a 6th rounder for both and nothing more

 

[danielpalfredsson]

If the Oilers do this trade after July 1st, the acquiring team would only have to pay 16 M over four years (4M per year) , with 53% coming in SB

That is a fair point, but it still has to be considered that teams with cap space either have it because they are rebuilding (IE Rangers) or because they don't have ownership groups willing to spend to the cap (Arizona, Carolina, Ottawa, etc).

A team that cannot spend will not be willing to waste 4M per season on what has effectively been a steeply declining 3rd or 4th liner.

Teams who can do it because they have cap space like the Rangers won't really care about the bonus because salary isn't an issue, cap space is. They put themselves at a major competitive disadvantage if they have Lucic's full cap hit on the books for the next four seasons since their rebuild should (if executed properly) begin peaking prior to that.

Edmonton is smart to explore this, and they are smart to make Puljujarvi the starting point, but there is no universe where Puljujarvi is fair value for taking that contract, and no universe where it gets done if that's all they are willing to give up.

I could be wrong, I've been wrong in the past, but I'll be shocked if that trade happens. It makes no sense when looking at other historical trades.