Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Neal averaged 14:57 of ice time on the Flames.
Lucic averaged 13:14 of ice time on the Oilers.
Hathaway averaged 10:32 of ice time on the Flames.
Assuming Neal's PP time as the second unit screen man goes to Lucic (probably with Hanifin/Andersson/Bennett/Backlund) and Hathaway's 5v5 minutes go to Lucic, I don't think it's too out there to expect Lucic to be around the 12-13 minute mark, about what he logged in Edmonton.
What the "advanced stats say" to use your words, is that Lucic was a positive player in almost every underlying area, while modtly playing with the likes of Ryan Nugent Hopkins, Zack Kassian, and Kyle Brodziak.
Even if he's ultimately one of our less strong possession players, there's a very low chance he's the kind of anchor that either Neal or Hathaway have been. Hathaway has only ever had decent underlyings with the Ryan/Mangiapane duo, and Neal didn't have decent underlyings with ANYONE last year, although Bennett did pull him up to respectability at times. It stands to reason that Lucic's positive impact on the likes of Brodziak and Kassian is not something Hathaway or Neal would necessarily be having
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RNH is the Oilers second best player.
The Oilers do have a coach that plays for Corsi. If you accept that Corsi is related to points then Lucic is still going to be oh so bad.
What a high bar we’re setting here BTW - he’s better than Hathaway? Phew.