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Originally Posted by Resolute 14
You are right there, textcritic. I agree that all indications are that we needed to get rid of Neal. But the fact remains, I don't believe Lucic makes the Flames better.
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No, I agree. But I think the expectation is that Lucic will not make the team any worse, and a team that led the Western Conference in scoring could afford to move a one dimensional forward who was not scoring for a player from whom they at least knew what they were getting.
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Everything we are doing right now is trying to polish a turd. And the problem is, we are actually getting a bit lucky with Lucic (and Bennett) right now in that their poor on-ice play hasn't really burned us yet. That line is going to start costing us goals against sooner rather than later. And if I'm being honest, the only mitigation I see is to bench Lucic and put Czarnik out in his place. But that's not going to happen.
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Maybe, but I think it is still too early to know for sure. The team has not played anywhere near as well as they are capable of playing, and lots of players are getting buried in their own zone: for as well as Monahan has started the season, he is sporting an abysmal 40.2 SAT%. I expect this will correct itself as the team gets back to their game more consistently. I mean, for all his warts Lucic was one of the Oilers better possession drivers last year.