Lucic is certainly withering, there is no doubt. He's been pretty good in a Calgary uniform in total with decent third line metrics and stats for a couple of years making him only $2M or so over paid and not the replacement level cap hit.
Certainly some loyalty in play with Sutter, and I get the frustration with that.
Looked at ice time last year and this year for 4th liners though, and if anything they're playing a little less this season than last.
The big difference is Backlund and his wingers are stealing more ice time from the top of the list, which is different than the top line last year.
Last year's fourth line guys were getting 10.1 minutes per game this year 9.9 minutes per game.
Last year they had only 6 forwards at 12+ five on five minutes a night, this year that's 8 and soon to be 9 with Pelletier getting more ice.
Lucic's numbers are inflated for average ice time because he did 2 months in the top six (but I included them above)
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