Good news is Sutter is a big fan of having placeholders in lineups. People here are super down on him but Sutter knows Lucic isn’t a top 6 forward. He’s likely occupying that spot until one of Ruzicka or Phillips show in practice they’re ready to get back on track. Ruzicka’s game had been slipping for a while now and while Phillips had a not bad first showing, he was a turnover machine in his second game. Most likely means as long as the lines keep showing chemistry he’s eying a lineup of:
Dube-Lindholm-Toffoli
Huberdeau-Kadri-Ruzicka/Phillips
Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman
4th line
That looks like a pretty ideal lineup from our forward group so far. But I know we are being negative here, so continue saying Lucic is a top 6 forward to Sutter.