[bigrangy]

Lucic is not the problem with the team. The problem is lucic being held to a different standard than the rest of the team. Fail to backcheck costing a goal against? That’s ok, go do it again 20 times. Fail to cover his guy in the d-zone allowing a goal against? No worries buddy, go get em next time. Fail at a breakout because you can’t handle a breakout pass? Bad luck! Go try again!

Any other player outside of the 4th line does this and they’re benched or in the pressbox. The game has mostly passed Lucic by and while he can still be dangerous when he has open space, he’s a giveaway machine when under any pressure. The double standard regarding Lucic is definitely visible from out here so I can imagine it’s not ideal in there.

I do appreciate his beef and am still of the opinion that every team needs a regular forward who can and is willing to mix it up. But he has by far the worst goal differential on the team, which is the one stat that actually matters on the scoreboard. It’s not like it’s a fluke he’s the worst either, he’s the worst among regular forwards in every fancy category too, and sometimes by a lot.

It would be easier to stomach him if he were actually leading the Flames to impose their physical will over the other team, but the team doesn’t need to be physical since they always have the puck. And then he goes and does nothing in the Rangers game.

I’m pretty sure he gets another contract, and I still think he could be a Perry-like asset to a team that has some superstars in the top 6 that he can mesh with. But this team rolls 4 lines and seemingly needs to right now. And Lucic with depth on the rest of his line is not going to be someone who helps you win games.