Can Lucic bounce back?

[Mr Positive]

imo, he can't. Not on the team as it is constructed.

Our team is still built for the rush. Lucic is a territorial player. Those are opposites.

Ideally, we become a well rounded team that is both strong on the rush and territorially. By territorial I mean cycling, not that Lucic cycles especially well but cycling means slowing the puck down and pinning it down in the offensive zone, with skill players passing it around while Lucic just owns the territory in front of the net and supports the cycle that way, with a screen and garbage goals. If the 0-zone possession only lasts 20 seconds, Lucic has to skate too much.

And yes, the problem is that we do not have a defense that knows how to operate in the offensive zone. It doesn't matter how good Drai or McDavid are. A cycle REQUIRES a 5 man effort. The D are quite good as transition players, retrieving pucks and skating well- but again that is mostly good for a rush game, nullified when you pin yourself in the offensive zone and already have the puck.

Bear and Bouchard can't do it either. Maybe Bear. If Klef or Nurse get hot they can do it, but it's not their identity so you can't depend on it.

 

[Tyrolean]

I don't see him getting better. Hopefully he does for the Oilers sake, but right now because of his contract, he is the worst player.

 

[nexttothemoon]

The Oilers have ONE speedy line... the 1st line... with McDavid.

Nurse has speed but he's not going to destroy opposing teams with Orr-like end to end rushes.

Rieder has some decent wheels... so does Aberg... so does Kassian and Caggiula... but they aren't blistering speedsters and their overall skill levels in other areas aren't top end either so their above average speed doesn't always help out a lot.

Drai has decent speed as well but isn't what you'd class as a speedster... and again, when coupled with average talent/speed wingers, any overall speed advantage is reduced.

My point is that the team needs to still play cycling hockey... physical hockey... dump in hockey etc. It can't all be based around the rush like on McDavid's line.

When 3/4 of the team isn't really tuned to that speedy style of play... they still have to play other players to their strengths and that includes someone like Lucic playing in areas where he's at his strongest... hammering along the boards and providing a strong net front presence.

I think it was definitely a case of square peg... round hole for a lot of last season and he wasn't utilized to his maximum strengths.

Maybe 50 pts is beyond reach now... but he can likely still be an effective physical presence with a somewhat reduced minutes role.

 

[TheNumber4]

I think Lucic will be pretty much the same player, handles the puck like a grenade at our blue line, slow acceleration, bad mental game... but I still think he can make some good O Zone plays and passes and sometimes rip one in. I think just having better puck luck this year and a better Oilers team could get him back to around 40-50 points. If he can do that, and beat the snot out of the opposition every now and then the contract can be somewhat salvaged.

 

[Oilers in NS]

I think Jesse would prefer the line he is on right now over being on a line with Lucic and Drai.

Remove Lucic

 

[GMofOilers]

Chia says on leafs lunch Lucic is 6 pounds lighter, and 40 to 60% better on speed and agility testing.

Touched on a few other spots to in the interview.

 

[redgrant]

He looks awful so far. Lets not tell lies to ourselves - he just plain out doesnt look good. I think he'll score more goals as he was unlucky last year but he will never be a 6m player. Honestly hes a 3rd or 4th liner on any respectable team.

 

[GMofOilers]

Hes never been a 3rd or 4th liner ever in his career, last year he played like one, but thats on Oiler fans really.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

He looks awful so far. Lets not tell lies to ourselves - he just plain out doesnt look good. I think he'll score more goals as he was unlucky last year but he will never be a 6m player. Honestly hes a 3rd or 4th liner on any respectable team.

You took that from one game where he was sick and even scored a goal.

Why even bother posting?

 

[Aerrol]

Hes never been a 3rd or 4th liner ever in his career, last year he played like one, but thats on Oiler fans really.

??????? wat

 

[GMofOilers]

??????? wat

Most want him to fail in Edmonton for some reason.

 

[Senor Catface]

Chia says on leafs lunch Lucic is 6 pounds lighter, and 40 to 60% better on speed and agility testing.

Touched on a few other spots to in the interview.

What's 40 to 60 percent better of zero?

 

[Simonizer]

Lucic has always been terrible in his own end in his basic move is pinning a winger on the boards and throwing it into the middle of the ice. Hopefully the coaching staff can get him to flip it off the boards to correct this from happening. He makes his money in the offensive zone separating defenders from the puck and hitting through them. I feel that a lot of people think that Lucic was brought in to score goals. He gets his 15-20 a year and has pretty much all of his career. The hope that he is going to miraculously turn into a 30 goal 60 point player is never going to happen.

Fans need to temper their expectations a bit and get behind the guy. He's the guy taking liberties with other players who are getting out of line and he is the guy who will always answer the bell for his teammates. Fact is McDavid has missed ZERO games due to injury since Lucic was signed. He's not the fastest, not the most skilled, but he can plant himself in front of the net and bang in some pucks all while being probably the best deterrent in the league. Sure we have Nurse and Khaira but let's face it, there is only one Lucic in the league and we have him protecting our players.

No teams are taking runs at our high end talent. We whined when we were getting run over because we are too soft, and now we whine because we have a guy getting paid 6 mill who for the first time in his career didn't get his 45-50 points. It would be nice to see some fans show the guy some support, his dad committed suicide a few years ago he has a lot of shit on his plate, big salary or not.

 

[Aceboogie]

Most want him to fail in Edmonton for some reason.

Noone wants him to fail. There is a difference between wanting someone to fail and having the opinion that a player will not live up to a contract. I would love to be wrong about Lucic. I would gladly eat 10 pounds of crow if he scored 25 goals on his own

Fans, especially Oiler fans, need to be critical of management moves. For too long fans just accepted whatever management did because they were "loyal" fans. Fans should be pressuring management to make good moves and punished for bad ones so we can actually see playoff hockey.

 

[Little Fury]

Chia says on leafs lunch Lucic is 6 pounds lighter, and 40 to 60% better on speed and agility testing.
.

Yeah, right.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Noone wants him to fail. There is a difference between wanting someone to fail and having the opinion that a player will not live up to a contract. I would love to be wrong about Lucic. I would gladly eat 10 pounds of crow if he scored 25 goals on his own

Fans, especially Oiler fans, need to be critical of management moves. For too long fans just accepted whatever management did because they were "loyal" fans. Fans should be pressuring management to make good moves and punished for bad ones so we can actually see playoff hockey.

I'd love nothing more than Lucic to score 20+ goals while being an intimidating force that imposes himself in front of the opposition's net.

Watching him fail last year wasn't fun. It was downright painful.

 

[Little Fury]

Fans need to temper their expectations a bit and get behind the guy. He's the guy taking liberties with other players who are getting out of line and he is the guy who will always answer the bell for his teammates. Fact is McDavid has missed ZERO games due to injury since Lucic was signed. He's not the fastest, not the most skilled, but he can plant himself in front of the net and bang in some pucks all while being probably the best deterrent in the league. Sure we have Nurse and Khaira but let's face it, there is only one Lucic in the league and we have him protecting our players.

Six million dollars a year for a security blanket to keep the boogieman under the bed away is a bit much.

No teams are taking runs at our high end talent. We whined when we were getting run over because we are too soft, and now we whine because we have a guy getting paid 6 mill who for the first time in his career didn't get his 45-50 points. It would be nice to see some fans show the guy some support, his dad committed suicide a few years ago he has a lot of **** on his plate, big salary or not.

The problem with the old Oilers wasn't toughness, it was their tough players sucked at hockey. If Lucic doesn't get his **** together and remember how to play the game, he's no more useful than Ben Eager was.

 

[Simonizer]

Six million dollars a year for a security blanket to keep the boogieman under the bed away is a bit much.



The problem with the old Oilers wasn't toughness, it was their tough players sucked at hockey. If Lucic doesn't get his **** together and remember how to play the game, he's no more useful than Ben Eager was.

Ben Eager scored a whopping 16 points as a career high, Lucic is leaps and bounds better, and Ben Eager is not a deterrent that's a silly comment. Pick a better comparison for a player who can actually contribute to the game. There's a dozen highlight vids of Lucic's work on the ice, Eager not so much.

Lucic also led the league in hits among forwards last season.

The problem with the old Oilers was that the Schultz's, Hall's RNH's, Eberle's etc etc would get run and jack all would happen. It's not the case now. Teams don't f*** around with us and it starts with Lucic.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Ben Eager scored a whopping 16 points as a career high, Lucic is leaps and bounds better, and Ben Eager is not a deterrent that's a silly comment. Pick a better comparison for a player who can actually contribute to the game. There's a dozen highlight vids of Lucic's work on the ice, Eager not so much.

The problem with the old Oilers was that the Schultz's, Hall's RNH's, Eberle's etc etc would get run and jack all would happen. It's not the case now. Teams don't **** around with Lucic.

Opposing teams were too busy winning the game last year to worry about a hibernating bear.

 

[Little Fury]

Ben Eager scored a whopping 16 points as a career high, Lucic is leaps and bounds better, and Ben Eager is not a deterrent that's a silly comment. Pick a better comparison for a player who can actually contribute to the game. There's a dozen highlight vids of Lucic's work on the ice, Eager not so much.

Yes that's my point: Lucic for half of last season was no better than a guy like Eager. he didn't score and he didn't intimidate.

Lucic also led the league in hits among forwards last season.

Big deal.

The problem with the old Oilers was that the Schultz's, Hall's RNH's, Eberle's etc etc would get run and jack all would happen. It's not the case now. Teams don't **** around with us and it starts with Lucic.

The only team Lucic hurt last year was the Oilers.

 

[Paralyzer]

Ben Eager scored a whopping 16 points as a career high, Lucic is leaps and bounds better, and Ben Eager is not a deterrent that's a silly comment. Pick a better comparison for a player who can actually contribute to the game. There's a dozen highlight vids of Lucic's work on the ice, Eager not so much.

Lucic also led the league in hits among forwards last season.

The problem with the old Oilers was that the Schultz's, Hall's RNH's, Eberle's etc etc would get run and jack all would happen. It's not the case now. Teams don't **** around with us and it starts with Lucic.

Not even that so much. Since Nurse and Khaira have made a name for themselves and we still got crazy Kassian, no one wants to pull any shit on us. We finally deterred the other teams away from our star players. But who started it all? Lucic.

 

[Little Fury]

Not even that so much. Since Nurse and Khaira have made a name for themselves and we still got crazy Kassian, no one wants to pull any **** on us. We finally deterred the other teams away from our star players. But who started it all? Lucic.

What about the 41 or so games last year where opposing teams couldn't wait for him to come over the boards?

 

[Ladyfan]

Boston Bruin's fan here.

I hope Looch has a good season for your team. I know he didn't have a good year .

Love the big guy. I still miss him in Boston. We don't have many forwards who can hit like Milan.

He was nice to me when he was in Boston ( I sit next to the B's bench). Maybe I look like his Grandmother.

Good Luck.

 

[Simonizer]

What about the 41 or so games last year where opposing teams couldn't wait for him to come over the boards?

You positivity is intoxicating.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

What about the 41 or so games last year where opposing teams couldn't wait for him to come over the boards?

Or the 82 were Kassian was a complete ghost...