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Can Lucic bounce back?

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Soundwave

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Mar 1, 2007
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EternalFrost said:
The cap hit for a buyout is so high that the team is better off just hanging on to him, despite his decline in production. People like to harp on the point that he doesn't fight anymore. There are only 21 players with 2 or more fights in the league, and the league leader has 4. Guys aren't fighting, and the ones who do aren't dumb enough to fight Looch. Would you want that gorilla on skates angrily bashing his lunchbox fists on your head?

It may be that the game has passed him by. We're stuck with him and his flaws regardless, and complaining about what he is or isn't doing doesn't change anything. He's not getting traded. He's not being bought out. He's not going to the minors. He's not going to the press box. It sucks, but it is what it is. All you can do is hope he keeps working hard and bounces start going his way.
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He can be traded if the Oilers retain salary IMO. Maybe not right today, but after July 1 next year, the one benefit if any is that his contract is front loaded, so the remaining years on his deal are really $4 million/season after July 1, 2019.

The Oilers retain on top of that and he can become a $3 million player with a higher cap hit which is actually attractive to cap floor teams.
 

Little Fury

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Jun 21, 2006
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EternalFrost said:
The cap hit for a buyout is so high that the team is better off just hanging on to him, despite his decline in production. People like to harp on the point that he doesn't fight anymore. There are only 21 players with 2 or more fights in the league, and the league leader has 4. Guys aren't fighting, and the ones who do aren't dumb enough to fight Looch. Would you want that gorilla on skates angrily bashing his lunchbox fists on your head?

It may be that the game has passed him by. We're stuck with him and his flaws regardless, and complaining about what he is or isn't doing doesn't change anything. He's not getting traded. He's not being bought out. He's not going to the minors. He's not going to the press box. It sucks, but it is what it is. All you can do is hope he keeps working hard and bounces start going his way.
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They aren't better off hanging onto him and playing him, or worse, paying him the full freight and sitting him in the PB. Yeah a buyout is painful, but the chances of finding someone who can do Lucic's job with the cap savings you get from buying him out are higher than him ever being a useful player again.
 

Soundwave

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Mar 1, 2007
72,159
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Little Fury said:
They aren't better off hanging onto him and playing him, or worse, paying him the full freight and sitting him in the PB. Yeah a buyout is painful, but the chances of finding someone who can do Lucic's job with the cap savings you get from buying him out are higher than him ever being a useful player again.
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Retaining salary is better than a buy out. A buy out punishes you for years after he's gone, at least retained salary is done when the contract term is up.
 

Little Fury

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Jun 21, 2006
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Soundwave said:
Retaining salary is better than a buy out. A buy out punishes you for years after he's gone, at least retained salary is done when the contract term is up.
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Oh I 100% agree that if they can find someone to take that salary at 50% they should do it. I'm not sure anyone touches that contract with a 10 foot barge pole, though. Alzner for Lucic at 50%?
 

Soundwave

Registered User
Mar 1, 2007
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Little Fury said:
Oh I 100% agree that if they can find someone to take that salary at 50% they should do it. I'm not sure anyone touches that contract with a 10 foot barge pole, though. Alzner for Lucic at 50%?
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Lucic at 50% is heavier than you think, you guys are not looking at his actual salary structure. 50% retention after July 1 of next summer is

1.5 mill
2 mill
2.5 mill
2 mill

For Lucic, which is a $2 mill cap hit basically. Plenty of teams would likely take him at that salary with a pick thrown in. You don't have to retain even that much. If you retain $1-$1.5 mill a year, I bet there would be a team that bites. There are lots of cap floor teams that will need inflated cap hit but lower actual salary because the cap keeps rising.
 

Little Fury

Registered User
Jun 21, 2006
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Soundwave said:
Lucic at 50% is heavier than you think, you guys are not looking at his actual salary structure. 50% retention after July 1 of next summer is

1.5 mill
2 mill
2.5 mill
2 mill

For Lucic, which is a $2 mill cap hit basically. Plenty of teams would likely take him at that salary with a pick thrown in. You don't have to retain even that much. If you retain $1-$1.5 mill a year, I bet there would be a team that bites. There are lots of cap floor teams that will need inflated cap hit but lower actual salary because the cap keeps rising.
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Well, you have to hope that a new GM comes in and is able to swing something because there's no way this shouldn't be Looch's last in Edmonton.
 
CornKicker

CornKicker

Holland is wrong..except all of the good things
Feb 18, 2005
11,852
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maybe Leons dad will do us a solid and take lucic 50% retained to play in germany.

cant we send him to the AHL for a conditioning stint and then not let him back because of how slow he is?
 
FunkyChicken

FunkyChicken

Registered User
Jul 24, 2003
2,352
750
Lucic is done.
I think he could still play but is not willing to put in the effort to be effective. There was a play against Dallas in their zone where he just disengaged from a battle in the corner and let the Dallas defenseman just walk out with the puck. What was that line MacT had for Penner? We viewed the contract as the starting point, and he viewed it as the finish line? Or something similar.

I see three options.
First is to find a similarly bad contract, maybe with more actual dollars but less cap hit for a move.
Second is for LTIR. A few benchings may help facilitate this.
Third is status quo and hope for a buy out opportunity.

How many misses does Chia get?
 
Todd from Leduc

Todd from Leduc

Connor “The Next Great One” McDavid
Nov 15, 2017
1,411
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Leduc
Looch is coming back I can see it coming 1000% percent! You don't go from stanley cups to nothing, it's not a pritnt it's a marathon and it's about the journey and the DESTINATION! Which is the Stanley Cup Championship! McDavid is too good to not see the much deserved result for this championship boys!
 

Little Fury

Registered User
Jun 21, 2006
17,834
6,807
Todd from Leduc said:
Looch is coming back I can see it coming 1000% percent! You don't go from stanley cups to nothing, it's not a pritnt it's a marathon and it's about the journey and the DESTINATION! Which is the Stanley Cup Championship! McDavid is too good to not see the much deserved result for this championship boys!
Click to expand...

Are you on Twitter cause this bit would be an instant follow for me.
 
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oobga

oobga

Tier 2 Fan
Aug 1, 2003
23,415
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redgrant said:
Cant we LTIR him because of his back?
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Only if he's willing to handle the embarrassment of pretending he can't play. He really doesn't seem like the type. He's pretty proud of his fitness and conditioning.
 

oil4life97

Registered User
Aug 10, 2005
1,257
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oobga said:
Only if he's willing to handle the embarrassment of pretending he can't play. He really doesn't seem like the type. He's pretty proud of his fitness and conditioning.
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Have you seen him skate lately? Not much to be proud of.
 

Hemsky4pm2

Registered User
Dec 2, 2017
854
626
Press box is coming. Then he'll demand a trade. Team will demand a full waiving of nmc. I could see some creative options.
 
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