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In this edition of the hotstove, we discuss whether or not the Oilers should be worried about their prized free agent signing moving forward.
Todd Cordell
I'd definitely be concerned.
Lucic is on pace for his worst offensive season since 2008-09. He has not been the fit with Connor McDavid that the Oilers hoped he would be and his rate stats leave a lot to be desired.
Among 276 forwards with at least 500 minutes at 5v5 to their name, Lucic ranks 248th in points per 60 minutes played. The list of many who have been more efficient point producers includes Chris Tierney, Chris VandeVelde, Alex Chiasson, Luke Glendening and Rene Bourque. That doesn't exactly paint a pretty picture for Lucic, especially considering he has ridden shotgun with McDavid for a decent chunk of his 5v5 minutes.
Power forwards don't tend to age kindly and he turns 29 in a few months. I think we're starting to see that show.
Matt Henderson
I think the Oilers would be stupid not to worry about Milan Lucic's production. They signed him to a long-term deal at big money for a portion of careers where production typically starts to drop off. BEFORE the season, we were worried about his contract. Now,this Lucic contract scares me a lot more.
I believed that we wouldn't be wearing that contract like a millstone around our necks until year 3 or 4. His 5v5 scoring rate is abysmal. It is equivalent to Benoit Pouliot's in the worst year of his career. It's significantly worse when you factor in that the team desperately tried to make Lucic-McDavid work together. I mean, they gave it a real honest effort. The Oil dubbed Hall-McDavid a failure of a partnership after 100 minutes 5v5 together. They gave Lucic a chance for 300+ minutes. Awful.
My hope is that this season really is just an off year and that he gets back up to speed next year. It took Sekera and Letestu a year to get comfortable. If Oiler fans are lucky it's the same with Lucic. He shows flashes of the player he used to be. It's there. How often it shows itself is the real question.
James Tanner
Of course they should be worried. The Oilers improvement is due 100% to McDavid.
If they had Hall instead of Lucic and Larsson, imagine how good their team would be. The Lucic signing was horrible the day it was done and looks even worse now.
But people will still read this and complain about what I'm saying and not their incompetent GM.
Peter Tessier
Oh yes, they should but what's weird is that this has never happened to him, even in his short time in LA. So what does it mean? I'm not sure Lucic dropped off a cliff so much as the Oilers looked at him being 'Lucic' and riding shotgun for intimidation of anyone looking at McDavid.
While noble, if not slightly outdated, thinking the Oilers missed the part on usage and how they are going to best have him being productive. When you pony up 42 million you better have a bit more of a usage plan than 'keep Connor safe'. Luckily for Edmonton that the contract will give them plenty of time to figure out how to fix the usage issue.
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