Yeah, a shorter term by 1-2 seasons / something like a 5x5 and it's not as bad.
Klapka? Did you mean Ruzika? I think the other one you're thinking of is Pelletier.
Agreed. He still has a bunch of value as a 1.5 million dollar bottom 6th or a league minimum 13th forward. He can still contribute somewhat. Just not as a top 6 player. I'd take him back on the Flames at 1 mil AAV for the 4th line.
Agreed his deployment was annoying and his durability (which blocked the prospects) was also annoying. But sort those out and he's a great guy to have around.
It keeps slower and fringe enforcers from dicking around if teams have them on their team. But I agree with you if you have a faster dude playing physical on your forwards, Lucic ain't a deterrent. You probably won't see guys like Nurse, Myers or Jones crosscheck him a ton of times in front of the net though and in most scenarios, if Lucic pulls off an offsetting penalty, your team wins that exchange. Lucic is still useful for stuff like that.