Can Lucic bounce back?

[redgrant]

I'm close to 40 and have watched hockey 35 years. I've never seen a more useless Oiler that has not been healthy scratched a single game.

What is his f***ing problem?

 

[GOilers88]

Doubt it. He just sucks. 2 goals in the span of 2018 is just garbage. If the Oilers are able to move him, I'll be happy.

This is such a stupid response though. Up until last christmas, Lucic had put up 45-55 poimts every single year and has never battled injuries. Everyone that says his style has taken a toll is wrong. Hes in great shape and has a great bill of health. He doesnt 'just suck'. Coinciding with the death of his father, his hands completely dried up, but hes still playing good all around hockey this year in a limited role.

But yeah, a guy who puts up 50 points every year over a decade doesnt 'just suck at hockey'. Ive never seen someone fall so far off a cliff so fast without really any apparent reason.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Lucic has three more games to push his 2018 goal total to three.

What a disaster he is.

 

[Marpole Dealer]

The actual salary is lower than the cap hit (which can also be reduced through salary retention), so that is workable because a lot of cap floor teams don't give a **** about the cap hit, in fact having a lower actual salary and a higher cap hit can actually be a benefit because cap floor teams want contracts that have higher cap hit than salary (it saves them money).

A contract like Neal's contract in Calgary is worse because it's straight up the same salary all through out.

I would assume for most teams the cap hit would be the issue more than the actual salary he's receiving? Maybe a team that needs to hit the cap floor might be willing to take him, but would he be willing to go to a bottom dwelling team?

 

[Marpole Dealer]

Dude can’t keep up anymore!! Plain and simple! I’m in the East and don’t see him much but catching tonight’s game and so far I’m struck by how slow and utterly in unagile he looks out there! Only 30 years old and hard to imagine that he once banged home 30 in a season..

This is exactly what I've been saying!! He was never the most fleet of foot. But with the speed of the league, and the style that of play the league is going towards, he's not going to put up the points that he has in the past, because he can't keep up. The league doesn't let much go anymore. It's becoming a dancers league. Lucic would still be effective if the league played the same now as it did in the 80's and 90's. He got his cup, and his payday. I don't think he has much left to play for.

 

[Spawn]

Lucic has three more games to push his 2018 goal total to three.

What a disaster he is.

Only 4 years to go after this one....

Joyous world.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Only 4 years to go after this one....

Joyous world.

This year and next. He is gonzo after that come hell or high water.

 

[oilers2k10]

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.

30 years old is the wrong side of thirty? Ok then

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I don't think I've seen a player fall off from such a specific point. Going into last new years, his point totals were respectable if unspectacular. However the second 2018 hit, his game went of a cliff, and crashing into a nuclear power plant that proceeded to melt down...

He's looked better under Hitch, but his line is the one that has really struggled with the mostly AHL defence behind them.

I like the balence in top 9, and Lucic is a part of that. However the defence needs work, and that continues to be the bane of the team.

 

[Stoneman89]

Yah, but Hitch has him playing a useful and meaningful role on the 4th line! He's also putting Tobias Reider to shame this year by being able to score a goal.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

calling him a 4th liner at this point would be a compliment

his career is done

 

[GOilers88]

calling him a 4th liner at this point would be a compliment

his career is done

Honestly. If he was making less money, we wouldn't see people posting stupid shit like this. People can't get past the 6 million dollar figure though.

 

[Stoneman89]

Honestly. If he was making less money, we wouldn't see people posting stupid **** like this. People can't get past the 6 million dollar figure though.

Never mind the 6 million price tag then, and our inability to strengthen the team in other areas of need because of that contract. If he was making, say, 2 mill, do you think his production is still acceptable?

 

[oobga]

Someone pointed out a potential 4th line next year of Lucic-Spooner-Kassian. 11m for a 4th line. Ugh. And there will probably be dozens of better 4th lines out there with cap hits around 3-4M.

 

[GOilers88]

Never mind the 6 million price tag then, and our inability to strengthen the team in other areas of need because of that contract. If he was making, say, 2 mill, do you think his production is still acceptable?

For what hes been doing all year in a lesser role, for 2million I really wouldn't care. I also think the fact that he makes so much money and can't live up to it is also a part of the nasty cycle he's stuck in mentally. Kassian makes two million, and even though he doesn't really score I certainly like what he brings when he's on.

 

[Stoneman89]

For what hes been doing all year in a lesser role, for 2million I really wouldn't care. I also think the fact that he makes so much money and can't live up to it is also a part of the nasty cycle he's stuck in mentally. Kassian makes two million, and even though he doesn't really score I certainly like what he brings when he's on.

ONE goal in a calendar year is good enough? There are stay at home defencemen the get 4 times as much. And Lucic, Kassian and so many others are the reason McDavid and Drai are being overplayed because of a lack of production. I think it is something to care about, very much so. I don't have a personal dislike or vendetta against Lucic, but his lack of production is yet another large reason this team can barely keep it's head above water. Throw in the large cap hit and inability to move it due to the term, and other critical areas on the team cannot be addressed because of it.

 

[GOilers88]

ONE goal in a calendar year is good enough? There are stay at home defencemen the get 4 times as much. And Lucic, Kassian and so many others are the reason McDavid and Drai are being overplayed because of a lack of production. I think it is something to care about, very much so. I don't have a personal dislike or vendetta against Lucic, but his lack of production is yet another large reason this team can barely keep it's head above water. Throw in the large cap hit and inability to move it due to the term, and other critical areas on the team cannot be addressed because of it.

I'm not as down on Looch as everyone else simply because I've never seen a guy who has been so consistently successful over his entire career just lose the ability to score overnight. People keep saying he hasn't scored in a calendar year, and while true is really a misleading statement as there's about four months in there where they aren't even playing hockey. I agree, 80 games and 2 goals is atrocious. But I really believe there are others factors at play with this, because he's been a really good player for the last ten years. His body is not at all banged up from his style of play, and injuries have never been an issue for him. It's literally as if someone hit him with a magic wand and zapped his hands from his body.

I've never seen anything like it in professional sports, and I believe there's some reason for it, and he will find it again. He'll never live up to the contract, but at 15 goals a year and him doing what he's been doing I wouldn't have a problem.

 

[oobga]

Honestly, I watch Lucic and I swear he is still trying to play a skill game out there. It's so annoying. He should be getting in players faces, looking for hits on good players, messing with goalies. He does finish checks, but extremely rare that it's a noteworthy one. Hitting at the same rate Pakman did for us before for a 750k price tag.

Fully physically engaged Lucic seems to be a 4 or 5 times a year occurrence now.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Honestly. If he was making less money, we wouldn't see people posting stupid **** like this. People can't get past the 6 million dollar figure though.

even if we was making 600,000 he wouldn't be a 4th liner

4th liners score more than 1 goal in half a season

 

[GOilers88]

even if we was making 600,000 he wouldn't be a 4th liner

4th liners score more than 1 goal in half a season

If he was making 600k a year every GM in the league would take him.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

even if we was making 600,000 he wouldn't be a 4th liner

4th liners score more than 1 goal in half a season

maybe as a spot-duty enforcer who can come into the line-up when playing against a Ryan Reaves-type player (a guy with 6 goals and 11 points)

 

[Stoneman89]

If he was making 600k a year every GM in the league would take him.

Bet he likely wouldn't be in the everyday lineup. Spot duty dependent on opposition team and circumstances. His salary here demands that he plays every game. Pretty sure that against a speed/skill team like Tampa, he would have been scratched last night in favour of a youngster with some speed and skill, if we actually had some depth like that.

 

[Stoneman89]

I'm not as down on Looch as everyone else simply because I've never seen a guy who has been so consistently successful over his entire career just lose the ability to score overnight. People keep saying he hasn't scored in a calendar year, and while true is really a misleading statement as there's about four months in there where they aren't even playing hockey. I agree, 80 games and 2 goals is atrocious. But I really believe there are others factors at play with this, because he's been a really good player for the last ten years. His body is not at all banged up from his style of play, and injuries have never been an issue for him. It's literally as if someone hit him with a magic wand and zapped his hands from his body.

I've never seen anything like it in professional sports, and I believe there's some reason for it, and he will find it again. He'll never live up to the contract, but at 15 goals a year and him doing what he's been doing I wouldn't have a problem.

Yes, at 15 goals a year, it would be tolerable. But that's not the reality, is it? He's on pace for 2 , maybe 3 with a bounce or two. I hope he finds it too (whatever it is), as I really like the guy and wish him the best. But as mentioned, the current reality is that he, Kassian, and others are part of the problem with lack of production, and the trickle down effect is the top guys are overplayed because of it.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Bet he wouldn't be in the everyday lineup.

That’s a reach.

 

[GOilers88]

Bet he wouldn't be in the everyday lineup.

At 600k who gives a shit. You also have to take into account how he takes all this in. Im sure he's well aware of everyone pointing out he makes 6 million and isn't worth it. Do you think a guy who makes 600k has as much pressure on him to score as a guy making 6 million?

It's a completely different scenario with completely different circumstances.