Meh, whatever happens, I just hope that it improves the team enough to become a contender. My opinion is still the same - do one thing or the other. Either try to add to this core and give themselves the chance to win the cup, or give up on this core and start another rebuild.
I will say this, however - if the Flames are going to take on OEL's deal, then Arizona better be taking Lucic and his much shorter and cheaper contract in return. OEL's deal scares me. Lucic's deal doesn't, but it does hurt. I like Lucic, and will be sad to see him go, but this is part of this tough and sometimes ruthless business. No way would I be taking on OEL's contract without having Arizona take back a contract that makes it difficult to build a contender with. OEL will be difficult enough, but OEL + Lucic? That's 13.5 million or so in cap hit. Imagine having 2 Gaudreaus and 2 Monahans.
Wasted cap space hurts, and although OEL and Lucic aren't completely useless healthy scratch fodder at this point, they are closer to that than to being their top performing, cap neutral selves. Maybe OEL rebounds, but it doesn't look likely. Treliving will absolutely need to find a way to unload Lucic if this is how he is going to approach this off-season, IMO.
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