[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by 868904

There's a lot of talk about how bad Lucic's contract is.

I think the Flames owners are more likely to approve of a Lucic buyout than a Neal buyout because of the real dollars that will have to be paid.

I think owners care more about real money as opposed to the cap hit and at the end of the day, the owners are the ones who hold the real power in whether to buyout a player.

If the Flames buyout Lucic in the Summer of 2021 before the expansion draft, they will be adding about a $2 million cap hit NET for the next season when you factor in that Brouwer's $1.5 million cap hit will be off the books. Then in the year after, the cap hit gets bumped up to $4,885,000 but then after that, it's negligible at about $500,000 per year for two more years. So the second year after the buyout will hurt, but at that stage, the Flames will likely be rebuilding anyways as Johnny and Mony's contracts will be coming due.

In the Summer of 2021, Lucic can either take a buyout and get $7,833,333 or waive his NMC and get paid $9,000,000 for another two years. I guess it will come down to whether Lucic thinks he will still be able to make up the $1,166,667 as a free agent in the Summer of 2021.

Lucic cannot be bought out as he has a NMC.