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Originally Posted by Oil Stain
Yes 2.75 million cap hit, which is still better than the $6 million of dead space Lucic will take up for 4 seasons.
I was shocked that a good team wanted Lucic. What are the odds that another good team will want Lucic is he doesn't show any signs of life? Will Lucic waive his NMC to go a a team like Ottawa?
LTIR seems unlikely given that Lucic has been healthy as a horse.
He might be useful in the playoffs. Seems unlikely to me given that the regular season is too fast paced for him at this point and the playoffs are even faster. Its not even a skating thing. He has never been fast. His hands are just completely gone. Reminds me of Jeff Freisen or Gomez who just lost their hands completely around 30.
It shouldn't even matter to Flames fans what Neal does in Edmonton. They should just look at whether Lucic is bringing more than Neal did.
Through Neal's first 4 games with the Flames he had 2 points, was -2? and had 9 shots on net.
Lucic is zero points, -2 and one shot on net.
It's early and Lucic may turn it around, but the Oilers gave him a year and a half of rope to do just that and he continued to disappoint. I think he's done outside a Matt Martin type role.
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They can buy him out though. They don't get the gain in the first two years of cap space, but that actual cost is pretty similar to what a Neal buy out is.
It doesn't take a lot of searching to find Edmonton Athletic articles talking about how the Oilers should be able to find a home for Lucic because his actual dollars are lower than his cap hit (they were right, that's likely the 2nd reason Calgary did the deal), ... teams like the Senators take on those deals if you can find the right match.
I can't fathom Lucic looking like a contributor for four years ... I think the wheels will fall off both player, but Calgary may have an option or two.