Can Lucic bounce back?

[Soul8]

I feel like Lucic struggling this year might be very valuable for him moving forward. I feel he is going to appraoch the off-season focusing on reshaping his game...skills coach, getting lighter, getting faster. All of those things might turn Lucic into an extremely valuable player for this team moving forward. I also feel that Tmac doesn't understand how to utilize Lucic to the best of his ability and that under a new coach...if that happens, Lucic will be put in a position that suits his strengths. I don't feel he is a lost cause, but just like many others on this team, a product of the broken system overall due to the coaching.

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[Soundwave]

Craig Simpson told Bob Stauffer that he doesn't see Lucic bouncing back. Players like this on the wrong side of 30 are problematic. Simpson also said at the time of the signing the Oilers would regret this signing by year 2 ... and lo and behold, here we are.

I expect maybe not as bad as this year, but like 14-15 goals and 40 points from him maybe.

 

[guymez]

I think you are right except it has nothing to do with the coach IMO. Its on the player.
If Dustin Brown can turn things around at 33 then its entirely possible for Lucic to do the same.

 

[La Bamba]

I think he'll come back better next year IMO. He has the talent to do so and has bounced back from bad seasons in the past. If he has another bad season then I'll be concerned

 

[Soundwave]

Brown has always had solid puck skills though, Lucic pulling off the dangle Brown pulled on Larsson last night would be a laughable ask. This is a player built to play heavy hockey with minimal puck skills.

 

[Soundwave]

Lucic has been largely a bad fit here from day 1. He was mediocre right off the bad with McDavid, lost his spot to Maroon, then had a good stretch from about last Feb-April and then was underwhelming again in the playoffs.

This year he's been a trainwreck.

He doesn't play/read well off any of our centers. He'll be dumped onto Seattle with a draft pick in 2 years IMO.

 

[Spawn]

I think you are right except it has nothing to do with the coach IMO. Its on the player.
If Dustin Brown can turn things around at 33 then its entirely possible for Lucic to do the same.

Sure it's possible. But it also took Dustin Brown 5 years to turn things around.

Oilers aren't really in a position to wait for Lucic to figure it out again. He needs to figure it out for next season.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

He has mentioned that he will be looking to get his body weight down, get a little faster and work with a skills coach but I think a lot of it for Lucic is between the ears. A sports psychologist might help him get his mind sorted out. This was the first season I haven't seen Lucic play with that bit of crazy that he has had his entire career and I think that was a big factor for his obvious lack of confidence. The game is evolving into a more speed and skill game and I think maybe in his head he has to change with it or get left behind. While I think he can make adjustments to his game he should not abandon the player he's been his entire career to try and be something he's not.

 

[Soundwave]

He has mentioned that he will be looking to get his body weight down, get a little faster and work with a skills coach but I think a lot of it for Lucic is between the ears. A sports psychologist might help him get his mind sorted out. This was the first season I haven't seen Lucic play with that bit of crazy that he has had his entire career and I think that was a big factor for his obvious lack of confidence. The game is evolving into a more speed and skill game and I think maybe in his head he has to change with it or get left behind. While I think he can make adjustments to his game he should not abandon the player he's been his entire career to try and be something he's not.

Problem is at this stage of his career he's not magically going to learn puck skills.

He is a caveman hockey player, getting lighter might make him a little faster, but probably also easier to push off the puck.

 

[SK13]

Milan Lucic is a player who feasts around the net on the powerplay. The Oilers powerplays this year A) don't happen very often and B) when they do happen, pucks are rarely getting on net. Dude went from 9th in PPG goals in the NHL to tied for 159th.

In terms of sheer numbers, if they sort this out, he will be better. As for consistent efforts and puck skills? Well, I think that's probably just the player.

 

[Mr Positive]

Yes, but not if we use him in the exact same way.

Lucic trimming down over the summer and speeding up his skating will help, but it won't fix him. Something has to change, either with how we use Lucic, or with the team around Lucic.

Dustin Brown's big points jump this season probably happened because they fired Sutter last April. Maybe Lucic needs a coaching change, or maybe a different change can do it.

 

[guymez]

Sure it's possible. But it also took Dustin Brown 5 years to turn things around.

Oilers aren't really in a position to wait for Lucic to figure it out again. He needs to figure it out for next season.

Welll...each player and each circumstance is different. That was just an example and I was hearing that Dustin had lingering injuries which resolved this season. I dont know if thats the case for Lucic.

We will know next season...I am betting he turns it around regardless of who the coach is.
I am quite confident that he knows this is on him.

 

[Soundwave]

I think Oiler fans should caution against the whole "ALL of Klefbom AND Lucic AND Talbot AND Sekera AND Larsson will turn it around next year! No problem!" stuff.

It's not going to likely happen for all of them. Some will bounce back, but some of these guys are likely going to have a bad season again next year, is this team good enough to deal with that?

 

[SK13]

I think Oiler fans should caution against the whole "ALL of Klefbom AND Lucic AND Talbot AND Sekera AND Larsson will turn it around next year! No problem!" stuff.

It's not going to likely happen for all of them.

Sure, but it's no coincidence that everyone falls off at the same time. Just like it was no coincidence that many players had big years last year.

Risiing tide floats all ships.

 

[McDNicks17]

I think we're already sort of seeing it. He looks a lot quicker playing less minutes with some slower players.

He'll always be overpaid to some degree, but I think he'll be more useful next season if he isn't tied to McDavid again.

 

[oobga]

Needs to work his butt off on leg strength, lowering his center of gravity and stick skills this summer. Not just work out with a football player all summer to maintain his super over sized top heavy stature so he can try to do everything off rushes playing like he's a bowling ball with a stick.

Guy needs to figure out how to hold onto pucks and make some actual plays off the boards and around the net.

 

[Soundwave]

Sure, but it's no coincidence that everyone falls off at the same time. Just like it was no coincidence that many players had big years last year.

Risiing tide floats all ships.

Some of these guys are due for natural regression anyway. Lucic and Sekera are getting to the age where you would expect slow down anyway and for Lucic it could also be that degenerative back condition kicking in.

I think Klef and hopefully Talbot bounce back to some degree, but I am much less certain on Lucic and Sekera. I could see it going in a bad way for those two very easily.

 

[BigFuzzyDice]

As a guy who plays a big mans game there is no surprise he shut er down in the name of self preservation once the playoffs where realistically out of the picture. TMacT exacerbated his slump playing him to high in the lineup, The LooChoo Train will be a useful piece again next year. guaranteed.

 

[noeticfuzz]

No disputing that Lucic has been baaaad this 2nd half.

But he played some pretty good hockey in Nov and Dec when alot of other guys weren't.

My feel is that he got hurt and that something affected his game and then his bad game infected his confidence.

I will echo several of those above and am thinking he is enough of a pro and has enough pride to put in the work this summer - I expect him to come in svelt and believe he can still be effective with the right deployment - though I am betting that 'more effective' is closer to 40pts than 50pts next year.

 

[SK13]

Some of these guys are due for natural regression anyway. Lucic and Sekera are getting to the age where you would expect slow down anyway and for Lucic it could also be that degenerative back condition kicking in.

I think Klef and hopefully Talbot bounce back, but I am much less certain on Lucic and Sekera. I could see it going in a bad way for those two very easily.

Klefbom and Talbot were/are already back on track IMO.

It's definitely easier to see the 30+ year olds regress more significantly. I think Lucic's numbers will be better regardless and they've been halved brutally mostly by the Oilers anemic PP and not his own failings. He's always been slow, poor with the puck and inconsistent night-to-night.

 

[Zaddy]

Craig Simpson told Bob Stauffer that he doesn't see Lucic bouncing back. Players like this on the wrong side of 30 are problematic. Simpson also said at the time of the signing the Oilers would regret this signing by year 2 ... and lo and behold, here we are.

I expect maybe not as bad as this year, but like 14-15 goals and 40 points from him maybe.

Lucic is 29

 

[Soundwave]

Klefbom and Talbot were/are already back on track IMO.

It's definitely easier to see the 30+ year olds regress more significantly. I think Lucic's numbers will be better regardless and they've been halved brutally mostly by the Oilers anemic PP and not his own failings. He's always been slow, poor with the puck and inconsistent night-to-night.

I honestly would not be surprised if Lucic doesn't score 20 goals again in an Oilers uniform.

 

[KarmaPolice]

With that contract, he better. Way too much for a 3rd liner. If he improves his speed and agility then I think he would be a good 2nd line LW. It's gonna take a LOT of work to do that over the summer, but we'll see.

 

[Soundwave]

Lucic is 29

He's 30 next year and has the mileage on his body probably of a player closer to 32/33.

 

[MessierII]

Yes his shooting % is half his career average and the lowest it’s ever been. He’ll bounce back. If our pp Learns to shoot he’ll start finding pucks in front of the net again.