Bill Peters discusses the upcoming season (link to interview included)

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Lucic isn't anywhere close to being the worst player in the league. Anyone who says so is buying into the memes a little too heavily.

By no stretch is he the ideal player, and his contract is atrocious, but he's a bottom-six forward who most teams would take at a substantially reduced salary.

Yup. If he was a free agent this year he would have been signed on the 1st. Anyone saying otherwise is kidding themselves.
Would his contract be $5mil? Absolutely not.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

Yup. If he was a free agent this year he would have been signed on the 1st. Anyone saying otherwise is kidding themselves.
Would his contract be $5mil? Absolutely not.

There are many decent UFA's who aren't signed on the first.

There are many more lesser tier ones who wait awhile to sign, as teams try and sign the better players first.

If Lucic was a UFA this year, it's likely he would not have signed on the 1st.

Just the odds.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

Yup. If he was a free agent this year he would have been signed on the 1st. Anyone saying otherwise is kidding themselves.
Would his contract be $5mil? Absolutely not.

I think he can help the Flames but a day 1 UFA signing? Not so sure of that.

What do you think he’d get on the open market? IMO he’s more of a one year at a time kind of guy now who don’t usually get snapped up day one. The declining production is hard to overlook.

[DeluxeMoustache]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/f...-lines/sn-amp/

Flames’ Peters says Lucic is in ‘phenomenal shape,’ talks potential lines

Peters asked Lucic earlier this summer how many of Calgary’s eight exhibition games he’d want to suit up for this pre-season and the coach was chuffed with Lucic’s response.

“He threw out a number that was high and I go, ‘Holy geez that’s a pretty high number for a veteran guy to play that many games,’ and he goes ‘I want to play. I want you to tell me what I need to do, what I need to do better and go from there.’


...

Lucic averaged only 13:14 in his final year with the Oilers, which was his lowest average ice-time since his rookie campaign. His best seasons in the NHL have seen him average between 16:21-17:23 minutes per game.

“I gotta keep the big guy involved,” Peters said. “He’s got to be involved so he needs some ice-time


...

Peters added that “his best seasons have always been with a right-handed centre,” which means the likeliest scenario is him skating with Derek Ryan on the team’s third line.

“Right now, in my mind, we’ll be moving somebody over, a left-handed shot over to the right side,” Peters said

“I thought [Andrew] Mangiapane was real good. He’s a guy that could possibly play with Looch and give him some speed and some skill and some tenacity on the puck. So, we’ll see how it all goes but I see him playing in that middle six, I see him on that second unit PP net-front.”

[Red]

Some strange takes here about speed. Lucic wouldn't necessarily be the slowest player on the top line.

With Monahan skating in mud and Johnny's ability to slow the game down to a crawl, maybe this will work? 13 enters the zone, 27 goes to the net taking a couple bodies with him or drives the net hard distracting the goalie and 23 sets up shop in the slot? Could work.

He couldn't do it in Edmonton because McD only creates offence by his speed and no one else on the team is much of a playmaker.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Now Monahan can’t skate either?

Good lord, how did this bunch of losers top the West last year?

[Red]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Now Monahan can’t skate either?

Good lord, how did this bunch of losers top the West last year?

Oh sorry my mistake. Monahan is a fantastic skater.

[Heavy Jack]

Also Lucic is wearing #17 like in his Boston days!

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Red

Oh sorry my mistake. Monahan is a fantastic skater.

Monahan is a fine skater, which is to say that he is certainly good enough to play and succeed in the NHL. This may come as a surprise to you but "skating in mud" and "fantastic" are not the only options here.

[Red]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Monahan is a fine skater, which is to say that he is certainly good enough to play and succeed in the NHL. This may come as a surprise to you but "skating in mud" and "fantastic" are not the only options here.

Is Monahan a much better skater than Lucic? He was also able to succeed, and I mean actually win something.

Perhaps you didn't get my point, I wasn't slamming Monahan, I was just saying that Johnny made one slow player work and maybe he can do the same for another. I based that on thinking that Lucic is not a worse skater. Many here suggest he can barely skate. Do you agree with them?

[Strange Brew]

I"m likely reading too much into this, but in reading Peters' comments I get the impression the organization did some reflection on why the Neal signing failed so miserably. It quickly became evident there was not a great fit for Neal on this team unless he was scoring on the first line. It really brought into question just how well thought out that signing was in the first place, and if they had alternative plans for fitting him into the lineup (and if they really did their homework on the type of player and personality they were getting).

There seems to be a lot of thought of how to make Lucic successful.

[DeluxeMoustache]

I am intrigued to see this Ryan-Lucic-Mangiapane line which is implied (in 2 parts) by Peters.

Counting on Frolik being gone?

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by Red

With Monahan skating in mud...

Originally Posted by Red

Perhaps you didn't get my point, I wasn't slamming Monahan...

Perhaps you didn't make your point well enough. People will tend to throw out everything you say when you start with a bit of an extreme premise.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Lucic is a much quicker skater than Neal. I think people are going to be surprised at his speed, he is not fast but he is not James Neal slow. Nobody is.

Oiler fans will be surprised...they think Neal is much faster

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

If I was playing the Flames, I'd take liberties with Johnny to ensure Lucic gets moved to the first line.

The game isn't played on one shift, lots of time for Lucic to paste so and so to the glass! As we saw last season Johnny could take care of himself, I doubt Peter's is going to deploy Lucic every time something happens.

[crapshoot]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Oiler fans will be surprised...they think Neal is much faster

I don't understand why on earth they would think this though. Far as I can remember, none of us had any illusions about James Neal being a fast player when he signed here. We've all seen him play for a long time. It was all about his shot and his way of finding spots to shoot along with his experience and long running 20+ goal scoring streak that was the great thing about him. Him finding his way back to shooting and scoring that is what the Oilers fans should be hoping for, not Neal suddenly becoming a fast player through one summer of decent pre-season training.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I"m likely reading too much into this, but in reading Peters' comments I get the impression the organization did some reflection on why the Neal signing failed so miserably. It quickly became evident there was not a great fit for Neal on this team unless he was scoring on the first line. It really brought into question just how well thought out that signing was in the first place, and if they had alternative plans for fitting him into the lineup (and if they really did their homework on the type of player and personality they were getting).

There seems to be a lot of thought of how to make Lucic successful.

I certainly think that's at least close to what happened.

Really though a perennial 20 goal guy should have been a good bet. I think Neal likely let them down in the shape he came in with, and then Lindholm surprised everyone by being a great fit on the top line. I would guess at best they thought they'd rotate the two in and out quite a bit.

I don't think Neal was a problem in the room per say. But a proud athlete used to getting prime ice time and producing would certainly have a mood change as the season went on.

But I think you're spot on ... they felt Neal wouldn't get the opportunity to bounce back in Calgary given the roster construction and had to get him off the books. Also think the buy out was either not wanted by Treliving for restrictive reasons or turned down outright by the owners when he asked.

[Monahammer]

With Peters telegraphing his third line of Lucic-Ryan-Mangiapane (he says "middle six" a bunch of times, so clearly not 4th line- but I am actually excited to see this one; all the players are just lesser versions of Boston's first line of Lucic-Krejci-Marchand; so hopefully they gel just as well!) it has made me start to think about Bennett's role. I am hopeful that the way he played to end the season and into the playoffs has made Peter's think a top 6 role is necessary for him. Otherwise we will all be frustrated to watch Jankowski-bennett spinning their tires together on a fourth line this year.

Tkachuk-Backlund-Bennett actually sounds pretty good. I feel like we don't often see Tkachuk-Bennett together and I am not entirely sure why.

In this scenario though, Frolik is definitely given the short end of the stick and dropped to the 4th line. I used to think that we needed another top 6 forward but if we do acquire one, it's definitely going to be at the cost of Bennett performing this season.

Frolik-Jankowski-Dube/Czarnik could be a pretty decent 4th line, but it's pretty expensive. I am starting to warm up to the idea of getting rid of Frolik for peanuts.

[8sPOT]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

With Peters telegraphing his third line of Lucic-Ryan-Mangiapane (he says "middle six" a bunch of times, so clearly not 4th line- but I am actually excited to see this one; all the players are just lesser versions of Boston's first line of Lucic-Krejci-Marchand; so hopefully they gel just as well!) it has made me start to think about Bennett's role. I am hopeful that the way he played to end the season and into the playoffs has made Peter's think a top 6 role is necessary for him. Otherwise we will all be frustrated to watch Jankowski-bennett spinning their tires together on a fourth line this year.

Tkachuk-Backlund-Bennett actually sounds pretty good. I feel like we don't often see Tkachuk-Bennett together and I am not entirely sure why.

In this scenario though, Frolik is definitely given the short end of the stick and dropped to the 4th line. I used to think that we needed another top 6 forward but if we do acquire one, it's definitely going to be at the cost of Bennett performing this season.

Frolik-Jankowski-Dube/Czarnik could be a pretty decent 4th line, but it's pretty expensive. I am starting to warm up to the idea of getting rid of Frolik for peanuts.

I agree on Bennett and Tkachuk, I think they could fit really well together. That's where I'm hoping Bennett comes into to camp ready to kick some ass and the coaches have no choice but to bump him up the lineup.

[Toonage]

Bennett's comments this summer about wanting to prove himself in a top 6 role makes me think he isn't just projecting his hopes and dreams. I think he was told he'd be getting that time. I can totally see him with Tkachuk & Backlund, even if Frolik isn't moved.