transplant -
Again, Lucic played last year with his primary line mates being Kassian and Brodziak.
Brodziak put up all of nine (9) points all year. That’s not so good. Certainly not comparable to Ryan and Bennett
Kassian put up 5 of his 26 points in the first half, then 21 in the second half when his primary line mates were the duo of McJesus and Draisaitl
Yeah, Lucic’s results were horrendous. But he played on a really bad team where the offense runs through one guy. And he wasn’t playing with that guy. And he definitely didn’t have D the caliber of the Flames D helping to move the puck up ice.
Lucic’s results actually became horrendous consistent with deployment. He was a 50 point guy his first year. He had 27 points the first half of 17-18 playing with the Nuge, then he dropped. Looked like the blender was out as he started playing sometimes with Cammalleri on his last legs, Khaira, etc.
You say Ryan and Bennett had issues. After a slow start, Ryan ended up having 38 points, as a bottom 6 Center. I have news for you - that’s not lacking in production.
I mean, the pretty much one dimensional player Neal the Flames thought they were getting had 41 and 44 points his 2 seasons prior to joining the Flames (playing with Perron and Haula).
Lucic is coming in to quite a favourable situation. Even if he isn’t on the top line (which nobody necessarily expects right now), he will have comparably decent linemates and quality D.
The real loser in this deal is probably Kassian. Because people were projecting the Oil using him on the top line. They will probably gift his spot to Neal.
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