Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I think this is probably your problem here. Advanced metrics are not perfect, but they sure do help to cut through the noise that is created from prejudiced and frequently out of context game-observation. But more to the point, these are the same Oilers fans who were convinced that there were seven Giordanos in their system, that Ty Rattie was a bona fide 30-goal scorer, and that Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larson are Norris calibre top-pair defensemen. This is not exactly what I would consider the best source of information.
And this is likely because you 1) have (by your own admission) not watched enough of Milan Lucic from which to make an educated assessment; 2) are basing your opinion on cynical and jaded complaints from possibly the worst hockey fans in the country; 3) have not bothered to consider—as near as I can tell—the tremendous impact that toiling away for three years in the purgatory of the worst forward group in the NHL can have on a player's own performance. The fact alone that Lucic's situation has now suddenly VERY dramatically improved would strongly suggest that he is not the same player that was floundering with an AHL lineup in Edmonton. At worst, he is no better than Neal, and the Flames are still a top-five team.
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Sometimes individual players on bad teams get criticized when they shouldn't
Take the flames 2 years ago. Team couldn't score if johnny didn't score. Guys like bennett backlund frolik ferland Hathaway jankowski took heat because we couldn't win with backlund as a 2nd line center or we have too many plugs like hathaway on our team or Bennett needs to step up this team needs goals for someone other than first line
Insert lindholm and growth from tkachuk. Roles from the rest are in line now because we added 2 guys that can put puck in net. Pressure off the rest. These guys didn't get better they just were allowed to play their game
Chemistry factors in too. Lucic was in amongst many big slow physical forwards. Flames aren't built like that.