Can Lucic bounce back?

[Drivesaitl]

The Vegas game in which Lucic got injured was interesting as well in that Vegas had demonstrated zero fear of Lucic. With Carrier, a tough player in his own rights easily taking out Lucic on the boards which ended up with Milan on his pants. The same game Lucic had been handled prior and had a tough game.

Its a tough thing to state but if Lucic doesn't allow himself to get rubbed out on the boards there and manages to stay up the injury never occurs.

The Oilers played well as a team and won the game in OT on a Darnell Nurse goal (2 goals in the game for Nurse)

It was a great game for the Oilers on the road against the upcoming conference champs.

 

[oobga]

Worst part of Lucic's bad stretch was when McLellan decided playing him 17, 18, 19, once even 20 mins a night with McDavid to get him back on track. As we all saw, the complete opposite happened. There is no way Lucic wasn't feeling completely embarrassed, looking dead tired out on the ice, unable to keep up with McDavid. But, he just kept getting thrown out there, falling further and further down a hole. Thank goodness for that fluke slapper that the goalie was 100% ready for from 40ft out ending his goalless drought.

Then he finally drops down the lineup, gets less minutes, gets to play against 2nd and 3rd best defenders, and he starts to look like he has some idea of what he's doing out there again. Still not racking up points of course, but guy at least looked like he had a little life in him again.

Getting tired of waiting for common sense to kick in with old McLellan.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

This is my feeling as well. No use talking about getting 'faster'. That isn't going to happen at this stage in his career. Lucic needs to play to his strengths. Get in front of the damn net and make life miserable for opposing dmen and goaltenders. Hack and chop in rebounds. Of course that depends to some degree on proper deployment by the coach which is out of Lucic's hands.

But yeah, the pride thing is huge imo. You can't be in the NHL if you can't receive a pass or protect the puck for more than three strides. That's simply a lack of concentration or a product of frustration. No use blaming the coach if you are bobbling every puck that comes your way.

That's just it, the league is getting smaller and less tough so he needs to start imposing his ****ing will out there to compensate for his lack of speed and puck handling. Very few defensemen can match his strength (Chara, Byfuglien, Oleksiak, Engelland maybe, and ?). Very few want to piss him off so for the most part they leave him alone in front of the net. He needs to create chaos in front of the net and along the boards.

He needs to own last season and come in with the mind set that he needs to do what he can to help the team no matter what line he plays on. I get that this was likely the first time in his career that he's been on a team that bad and the losing and lack of his own success was hard to deal with, but he needs to own it and make amends for a POS season.

I think mid January.

Thanks.

Wait. That's Ethan Moreau's brother? Didn't a bunch of OIlers train with Moreau on summer around the start of the decade (+) of darkness and almost every single one of them got injured the next season?

Yup, this is the Oilers evil plan of LTIRing him.

The neck cut though is illusion as far as the timing of Lucic checking out. The game was Jan 13. Lucic had been playing awful since Xmas and including in that game. He had two second assists in the 10 GP since Xmas. He was already checked out and GDT's were full of comments about how suddenly bad he was. Whether this scared him and contributed to him being poor the rest of the way is one thing, but in no way is it matching with the timeline of when he disappeared.

The odd thing is Lucic had one of his best games a week later Jan 20. Then disappeared from the scoresheet completely.

ftr Lucic had been redhot in December bagging 4G 6A 10pts in 10GP up until Xmas. Thus making the 10 games after (and really the rest of the season) so strange.


This was so much of the case of a player just shutting it off, pulling the parachute. So disappointingly, its that.

The Neck injury, while interesting, is not synchronous with Lucic's dive.

Just mentioning this because time elapsed since removes memory of exactly when events occur.

I tend to agree that things were already sideways by then.

As for your comments in another post about Vegas, IMO they may very well be the toughest team in the league with Reaves and Engelland and we will need Lucic to be a man against this team because none of Nurse, Khaira or Kassian can hang with hose guys even though Nurse and Khaira have some serious balls and would take them on if the situation calls for it.

In that interview Lucic made a comment about Reaves being the reigning heavyweight champ and we'll see if it's still that way by the end of the season. I found that comment interesting because both guys basically avoided each other and played nice whenever we've played against Reaves and both were on the ice. It seems like something that needs to happen, the 2 best fighters in the league, in the same division set for a collision course. I wonder if Looch for this reason will continue to look to be big vs. trimming down to get a little quicker? In the end he needs to use his size and strength advantage over 99% of NHLers to be of use to us because he can't dangle overly well. He needs to be a bigger and meaner version of Ryan Smyth to the best of his abilities IMO.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Getting tired of waiting for common sense to kick in with old McLellan.

Agreed. Hopefully the new voices on the coaching staff will knock some sense into him and if they don't he's down the road sooner than later.

 

[Cypress]

He needs to be given less ice time. He looked a lot faster playing on the third line than chasing after McDavid. If he earns more, then great. Maybe treat him like the other guys and give him the odd shift with McDavid if he's playing well. I think he can be better but we'll see.

 

[Soundwave]

Worst part of Lucic's bad stretch was when McLellan decided playing him 17, 18, 19, once even 20 mins a night with McDavid to get him back on track. As we all saw, the complete opposite happened. There is no way Lucic wasn't feeling completely embarrassed, looking dead tired out on the ice, unable to keep up with McDavid. But, he just kept getting thrown out there, falling further and further down a hole. Thank goodness for that fluke slapper that the goalie was 100% ready for from 40ft out ending his goalless drought.

Then he finally drops down the lineup, gets less minutes, gets to play against 2nd and 3rd best defenders, and he starts to look like he has some idea of what he's doing out there again. Still not racking up points of course, but guy at least looked like he had a little life in him again.

Getting tired of waiting for common sense to kick in with old McLellan.

Pretty clear that was done to appease the GM. The one that looks the worst in the situation is Chiarelli because he's the one who signed this guy as a key part of his "master plan" of trading away Taylor Hall, who's having a Hart season.

The optics looked bad for the GM, the coach knows it's not a good look and tried to get Lucic going, the guy just sucked so bad he was even useless in a "here have a puck go in off your ass from a McDavid pass" type of way.

It's not Todd's fault Lucic sucks ass with both McDavid AND Draisaitl, what are you supposed to do, it doesn't look good on your boss if you're burying the guy on the 3rd line. He tried to get him going so the GM wouldn't look so bad.

Lucic was played on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd line and he sucked on all three ... what is the coach (who's likely keenly aware he can be fired by said GM) supposed to do? Bury the crown jewel $6 million dollar UFA acquistion the GM made on the 4th line or try and get him going?

Lucic's main problem is not even so much foot speed. Slow players have done well with McDavid and Draisaitl, so it's not just that. He processes the game SLOW, he's a slow thinker, that's a bigger problem. McDavid and Draisaitl need guys who can process the game fast and keep plays alive. Lucic kills plays and is always a step behind mentally, not just based on skating speed.

 

[oobga]

Pretty clear that was done to appease the GM. The one that looks the worst in the situation is Chiarelli because he's the one who signed this guy as a key part of his "master plan" of trading away Taylor Hall, who's having a Hart season.

The optics looked bad for the GM, the coach knows it's not a good look and tried to get Lucic going, the guy just sucked so bad he was even useless in a "here have a puck go in off your ass from a McDavid pass" type of way.

It's not Todd's fault Lucic sucks ass with both McDavid AND Draisaitl, what are you supposed to do, it doesn't look good on your boss if you're burying the guy on the 3rd line. He tried to get him going so the GM wouldn't look so bad.

Lucic was played on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd line and he sucked on all three ... what is the coach (who's likely keenly aware he can be fired by said GM) supposed to do? Bury the crown jewel $6 million dollar UFA acquistion the GM made on the 4th line or try and get him going?

Lucic's main problem is not even so much foot speed. Slow players have done well with McDavid and Draisaitl, so it's not just that. He processes the game SLOW, he's a slow thinker, that's a bigger problem. McDavid and Draisaitl need guys who can process the game fast and keep plays alive. Lucic kills plays and is always a step behind mentally, not just based on skating speed.

I honestly have a hard time thinking that McLellan is doing anything for Chia. Those 2 guys are on different pages on almost everything. Chia says before the season started he expects Drai on the 2nd line, and Strome to get some RW time with McDavid. Strome got 1 game in pre-season with McDavid, and that was it. Drai on the 2nd line didn't survive pre-season either. Pulju is another example where Chia and McLellan is totally out of sync. McLellan seems to act like he has more job security than his boss, and maybe he does, he might have really been hired by Nicholson and MacT, not Chia. He also likely makes double or more than what Chia does, and his contract is guaranteed, so whatever if his "boss" doesn't like what he does.

In any case, if one guy or both were on board with the Lucic playing way too much against far too good of competition, with McDavid who he couldn't keep up with, it was dumb, and we all saw it. Lucic was drowning, and things just kept getting worse for him. He needed to take a step back, not keep being forced to drown.

 

[bobbythebrain]

I honestly have a hard time thinking that McLellan is doing anything for Chia. Those 2 guys are on different pages on almost everything. Chia says before the season started he expects Drai on the 2nd line, and Strome to get some RW time with McDavid. Strome got 1 game in pre-season with McDavid, and that was it. Drai on the 2nd line didn't survive pre-season either. Pulju is another example where Chia and McLellan is totally out of sync. McLellan seems to act like he has more job security than his boss, and maybe he does, he might have really been hired by Nicholson and MacT, not Chia. He also likely makes double or more than what Chia does, and his contract is guaranteed, so whatever if his "boss" doesn't like what he does.

In any case, if one guy or both were on board with the Lucic playing way too much against far too good of competition, with McDavid who he couldn't keep up with, it was dumb, and we all saw it. Lucic was drowning, and things just kept getting worse for him. He needed to take a step back, not keep being forced to drown.

McLellan gave a disappointing laugh when asked about Justin Schultz's illogical minutes. Clearly he was taking orders from upstairs

Highly unlikely that TM has suddenly gone rogue

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I honestly have a hard time thinking that McLellan is doing anything for Chia. Those 2 guys are on different pages on almost everything. Chia says before the season started he expects Drai on the 2nd line, and Strome to get some RW time with McDavid. Strome got 1 game in pre-season with McDavid, and that was it. Drai on the 2nd line didn't survive pre-season either. Pulju is another example where Chia and McLellan is totally out of sync. McLellan seems to act like he has more job security than his boss, and maybe he does, he might have really been hired by Nicholson and MacT, not Chia. He also likely makes double or more than what Chia does, and his contract is guaranteed, so whatever if his "boss" doesn't like what he does.

In any case, if one guy or both were on board with the Lucic playing way too much against far too good of competition, with McDavid who he couldn't keep up with, it was dumb, and we all saw it. Lucic was drowning, and things just kept getting worse for him. He needed to take a step back, not keep being forced to drown.

Agreed. Chia saw Drai as a C and McLellan played him mostly on Connor's wing to start the year. I don't think that Todd did Chia any favors last season and I hope that Todd's leash is very short this season.

 

[oobga]

McLellan gave a disappointing laugh when asked about Justin Schultz's illogical minutes. Clearly he was taking orders from upstairs

Highly unlikely that TM has suddenly gone rogue

I personally think that was McLellan running Schultz out of town. The season was done, he was happy to punish Schultz and let him drown. He plainly said in the presser that certain people need to get the hell off the team, and it was obvious he was talking about Schultz.

Was it management orders to crater the confidence and throw under the bus a guy that Chia was actively trying to sell to other GM's in a trade? Think it may actually be another example of McLellan running the show

 

[Aerchon]

A rift seems likely because as many have pointed out there is some significant differences in what each sees happening with the team.

I put far more blame on the coach but I must say the way Lucic and Caguillia were used certainly makes Chiarelli look bad imo. Both those players are "his" and we're overused.

The Yamamoto experiment to me seems like a GM move.

I'm very curious how Jessie Puljujärvi is handled this year. Cap space is low and he has bonuses plus is up for renewal. There is no question in my mind that Jessie should be getting prime top 6 minutes in the NHL complete with top line PP. He needs a big push to develop properly and has all the tools to succeed in that position.

But cap wise it makes sense for him, and Nurse if bridged, to be without PP time and just given more tougher minutes. Solid way to create God two way cost controlled assets but backfires if you miss the playoffs anyways.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I honestly have a hard time thinking that McLellan is doing anything for Chia. Those 2 guys are on different pages on almost everything. Chia says before the season started he expects Drai on the 2nd line, and Strome to get some RW time with McDavid. Strome got 1 game in pre-season with McDavid, and that was it. Drai on the 2nd line didn't survive pre-season either. Pulju is another example where Chia and McLellan is totally out of sync. McLellan seems to act like he has more job security than his boss, and maybe he does, he might have really been hired by Nicholson and MacT, not Chia. He also likely makes double or more than what Chia does, and his contract is guaranteed, so whatever if his "boss" doesn't like what he does.

In any case, if one guy or both were on board with the Lucic playing way too much against far too good of competition, with McDavid who he couldn't keep up with, it was dumb, and we all saw it. Lucic was drowning, and things just kept getting worse for him. He needed to take a step back, not keep being forced to drown.

Going to disagree with this one.

This is the same McLellan that caved to management and was involved in carving Jumbo Joe Thornton and Marleau and stripping captaincy and making them be the fault for his own coaching limitations. That's why for the Sharks McLellan was dead to them the last season and Jumbo told the manager to mind his own f***ing business. It got ugly in SJ, ugly as it ever gets and McLellan cowardly sided with management that signs his checks.

I know what species of self serving coach McLellan is. I think the players realize it to and that he'd sell any of them out or succumb to having to play them gravy minutes if management says.

If you roll on someone like Jumbo who would play on one leg to try to help his team get a result you should hand in your coaching, if not man card. Because you've ceased being one. It was a disgrace then and worse now.

McLellan is here as long as he can be and will do nothing to jeopardize that. Terrible really that he and Chia are last men standing. Albeit Nicholson hired these two and is flunking as well.

 

[bobbythebrain]

I personally think that was McLellan running Schultz out of town. The season was done, he was happy to punish Schultz and let him drown. He plainly said in the presser that certain people need to get the hell off the team, and it was obvious he was talking about Schultz.

Was it management orders to crater the confidence and throw under the bus a guy that Chia was actively trying to sell to other GM's in a trade? Think it may actually be another example of McLellan running the show

Respectfully, I don't interpret that way at all. If TM hated Jultz, he wouldn't "gift" him more minutes. That seems so left field logically.

They asked him about Jultz's undeserved minutes, and he laughed like he was given an agenda

 

[Spawn]

So many experts around here on the inner machinations of Todd McLellan's mind.

Let's not pretend like we know a single thing thats going on between McLellan and Chia. Or McLellan and the players. Or Chia and the players. Just a bunch of nonsense to try and "prove" whatever theory you have.

 

[Throttlehead]

Yes Lucic can bounce back easily, he had a very bad luck year and serious loss of confidence. What Im not understanding is why this happens to a lot of players under McLellan.

He might only be in that 45-50 point range, which is fine if he brings the rest of his game back to normal as well. I did not see "leadership" at all from when he went in the toilet.

McLellan has to play him with players he matches with and not force him on certain lines and the 1rst PP.

 

[Soundwave]

He's gonna score 50 points playing with who?

McDavid's line? Nope. That experiment is long over.

Draisaitl? The advanced stats show he's even *worse* with Leon than he is with Connor.

Strome? Good luck.

He better hope he can inflate his totals being a pylon on the PP, 5 on 5 he's been horrid here from day 1.

 

[Throttlehead]

He's gonna score 50 points playing with who?

McDavid's line? Nope. That experiment is long over.

Draisaitl? The advanced stats show he's even *worse* with Leon than he is with Connor.

Strome? Good luck.

He better hope he can inflate his totals being a pylon on the PP, 5 on 5 he's been horrid here from day 1.

Would you have said that the year before last? Did he forget to play hockey in 1 year? Has the league changed completely in 1 year? Did he really just get old in 1 year and done at 30?

The same crap started with Eberle in Edmonton and he bounced back in New York as expected. Im no huge fan of Lucic and his contract, but a reasonable person would have to think he will be better this year over last, more in line with his whole career.

 

[Soundwave]

Would you have said that the year before last? Did he forget to play hockey in 1 year? Has the league changed completely in 1 year? Did he really just get old in 1 year and done at 30?

The same crap started with Eberle in Edmonton and he bounced back in New York as expected. Im no huge fan of Lucic and his contract, but a reasonable person would have to think he will be better this year over last, more in line with his whole career.

I've never really felt Lucic fit in here from the get go. He had one really good stretch towards the end of the regular season in 16-17 where he racked up points on the PP, other than that he has been poor here for large chunks of his time. Was crap in the playoffs too where he was supposed to lead.

He doesn't play well with McDavid or Draisaitl, the advanced numbers show this. He drags down McDavid and is even worse with Draisaitl. It's not just foot speed or skating, his decision making is bone-headed, he kills a lot of plays Connor or Leon set up for him by making a wrong play or throwing a blind pass.

I don't think he touches 50 points again in an Oiler jersey and will get traded next summer as a cap dump.

 

[CupofOil]

Don't really give a flying **** about this player. Sad he's been an Oiler or ever was. if this chapter ended and they somehow managed to trade his sorry ass I'd break out clapping.

I dislike this guy even more after the interview.

No nobody cares about Demar Derozan. Nobody cares about you either though Lucic. Retire already.

You guys are savage.

The guy does an interview where he owns up to everything and even is very complimentary to Edmonton, the organization and fans (even if it was fluff) and you guys still tear him to pieces.

I know he was awful (beyond awful) last season and who knows if he'll ever bounce back (He's the bounce back candidate I'm least confident in especially if Mclellan overplays him again) but whatever happened to supporting our players when they are down? If these are the types of comments players are receiving in public, and I wouldn't be surprised based on Maroon's comments, it's no wonder that players absolutely hate it here when things aren't going well. He deserves full criticism for his play last year but it's last year and I wish people would move on from last year already or at least give the guy a chance before throwing him under the bus for good.

FTR, I was rooting for his contract to be offloaded this season but I hate the contract not the guy. Seems like some people around here hate the player, the person and the contract.

 

[Gord]

You guys are savage.

The guy does an interview where he owns up to everything and even is very complimentary to Edmonton, the organization and fans (even if it was fluff) and you guys still tear him to pieces.

I know he was awful (beyond awful) last season and who knows if he'll ever bounce back (He's the bounce back candidate I'm least confident in especially if Mclellan overplays him again) but whatever happened to supporting our players when they are down? If these are the types of comments players are receiving in public, and I wouldn't be surprised based on Maroon's comments, it's no wonder that players absolutely hate it here when things aren't going well. He deserves full criticism for his play last year but it's last year and I wish people would move on from last year already or at least give the guy a chance before throwing him under the bus for good.

FTR, I was rooting for his contract to be offloaded this season but I hate the contract not the guy. Seems like some people around here hate the player, the person and the contract.

very well said, sir.
one of those times when you have to question the level of hate people have for him.

that being said, I know it's unknown how he'll play this year, but I'm going to go on the record and predict a season of at least 25 goals and he'll be nothing but a positive for the team.
also predict that no matter how well he does, it won't be enough for the majority of people.

 

[McNuge]

It is very easy to see why the players who lose confidence in Edmonton do not get it back.

 

[Mr Positive]

He's gonna score 50 points playing with who?

McDavid's line? Nope. That experiment is long over.

Draisaitl? The advanced stats show he's even *worse* with Leon than he is with Connor.

Strome? Good luck.

He better hope he can inflate his totals being a pylon on the PP, 5 on 5 he's been horrid here from day 1.

this all assumes Lucic will be the same as last season though. He has said that he's going to put in the effort this offseason to come back better, both mentally and physically, so maybe he can work out on McDavid's line this time. Or maybe he could be on Drai's line.

In general, our team was bad last season, and although Lucic was part of the problem, if the rest team does better I believe he could ride that tide and even contribute in a positive way, like he did in the last third of the 2016-17 and in the playoffs.

And yes, he might be on the 1st line PP, and that is a place where we should expect big improvement if for no other reason than our team was abysmally awful on special teams. To me that is the best reason to be optimistic, just because we weren't just generally terrible all over, but instead were tanked by some unsustainably bad things. I'd even say that Lucic was unsustainably bad last season too considering that it's not like he's in his late 30s. I think it was a mental confidence thing, which is fixable.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

You guys are savage.

The guy does an interview where he owns up to everything and even is very complimentary to Edmonton, the organization and fans (even if it was fluff) and you guys still tear him to pieces.

I know he was awful (beyond awful) last season and who knows if he'll ever bounce back (He's the bounce back candidate I'm least confident in especially if Mclellan overplays him again) but whatever happened to supporting our players when they are down? If these are the types of comments players are receiving in public, and I wouldn't be surprised based on Maroon's comments, it's no wonder that players absolutely hate it here when things aren't going well. He deserves full criticism for his play last year but it's last year and I wish people would move on from last year already or at least give the guy a chance before throwing him under the bus for good.

FTR, I was rooting for his contract to be offloaded this season but I hate the contract not the guy. Seems like some people around here hate the player, the person and the contract.

Running players out of town is what Oiler fans do best

 

[Drivesaitl]

You guys are savage.

The guy does an interview where he owns up to everything and even is very complimentary to Edmonton, the organization and fans (even if it was fluff) and you guys still tear him to pieces.

I know he was awful (beyond awful) last season and who knows if he'll ever bounce back (He's the bounce back candidate I'm least confident in especially if Mclellan overplays him again) but whatever happened to supporting our players when they are down? If these are the types of comments players are receiving in public, and I wouldn't be surprised based on Maroon's comments, it's no wonder that players absolutely hate it here when things aren't going well. He deserves full criticism for his play last year but it's last year and I wish people would move on from last year already or at least give the guy a chance before throwing him under the bus for good.

FTR, I was rooting for his contract to be offloaded this season but I hate the contract not the guy. Seems like some people around here hate the player, the person and the contract.

I despise the player, always have. One of the few players I would dislike more is Reaves. But more the point this was an overpriced contract the moment it was signed. We already had Maroon here, a player I loved and I know the friggen moment Chia signed Milan longterm that it was going to impact the team keeping Maroon. So that it was double salt. Oilers sign a player I can't stand, AND in the same moment make a move that disregards what they already had. Tie in the replacing Hall pts angle and this was a player that was never going to get much love. Chia trying to trump this player up its like bad medicine trying to taste good. Or cauliflower. You know you dislike, it hold your nose at the thought of it..

Don't trot out the fans treating players bad angle. I've never been impolite to any player in person as I have stated. Unless a pro player reads these social media comments (and they shouldn't and are told not do) it doesn't influence them in the slightest.

For a player to be described by Chia as a "solid character guy" Milan is a complete joke. He layed down on the team last season and we know it. What kind of character or pride is that. Its ironic that for an org that concerns itself with player cancers so much that they went out and got this one, signed a longterm, and slapped an A on him. It defies description.

 

[Drivesaitl]

very well said, sir.
one of those times when you have to question the level of hate people have for him.

that being said, I know it's unknown how he'll play this year, but I'm going to go on the record and predict a season of at least 25 goals and he'll be nothing but a positive for the team.
also predict that no matter how well he does, it won't be enough for the majority of people.

Lucic is one of the most hated and reviled players in the league. With most fans around the league thinking he is a complete joke and they always have. Those thoughts would be anywhere on any board anytime we play clubs. Ironically those thoughts were here also prior to the Oilers signing Lucic. I have no ability to suspend my feelings on a player just because they are here or not here. I like some players that are here, not here, and dislike some that are here, not here. I have no seeming ability to flick a switch and just start liking a despised player just because they end up here. it took every ounce of that type of energy to try to like Kassian. I loved Maroon. But Lucic? Forget it. Not happening.


I don't know what allows other people to switch their feelings towards players on a dime. I have trouble doing that. I'm born more for a league and NHL before preagency. A league where Rocket Richard is a Hab and Gordie Howe is a Wing and always going to be that way. Some people have allegiance only to logo. I have it to players I love, its not that strange either. How does one love a player like Maroon and just turn that off. Or Ryan Smyth or Glenn Anderson? I was never that way inclined.
I respect a Bobby Orr even though he was a Bruin. I give in to feelings like that. I think its fair. Great players are great players. Doesn't matter where they are. Everybody is different but I have affinity for some players, and others not.