Quote:
Originally Posted by TheScorpion
I think Lucic is getting screwed over by the coaches putting him in spots where he really shouldn't be playing. He's not a top-six forward or anything close, but he's being over-deployed to his detriment.
Last night, he was completely over his head in the first two periods. Better in the third but I don't think he was responsible for Mangiapane looking better — the inverse. Think Mangiapane might have stood a better chance of getting on the board with a player like Toffoli on his line instead (not suggesting they should have actually taken Toffoli off his line).
Ultimately, I do think Lucic gets too much rope. He's the 12th-best forward on this roster but he gets thrown to the wolves against other top lines *far* too often. Against other fourth lines, he's not a huge issue, but he's significantly less useful than he was when he first joined the Flames. His offensive ability is almost completely gone.
The Lucic-Rooney-Ritchie line was utterly destroyed last night. I think it comes down mostly to both Rooney's lacklustre play and the puzzling choices by the coaches to put that line out against the Scheifele unit, a situation where they were just killed. I do have to give Darryl a lot of credit for taking Rooney out of the rotation in the third, though.
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I don't think it's fair to say he only played well because of Mangiapane - in fact, that was Mangiapane's best period this year, so if anything, Lucic should be getting some praise.
I get that some people think he is useless because he can't score. But offense is not the only aspect of this game. He does a lot of good things, and there is plenty of reason why the coach trusts him.
I agree 100% that he shouldn't be playing 15 minutes a game, like he did last night, but for the season he is at 11 minutes. I would prefer 8-10 too, but the amount of complaining around here (not directed at you) for the ice time that the 4th line gets is over the top, IMO.