In this edition of the hotstove, we share our picks for the most overutilized forward in the NHL.
Todd Cordell
I think it is Milan Lucic. It has to be.
The guy has been attached to the best player in the league's hip all season long and the production just hasn't been there. At 5v5, he's averaging fewer points per 60 than teammates playing in much less favorable situations like Ryan Strome and Jujhar Khaira.
League-wide, the likes of Jay Beagle, Matt Cullen, Scott Laughton and Antoine Roussel have been more efficient producers at 5v5. They don't play as much, sure, but they also don't have a generational talent on their line.
With Lucic struggling, and the Oilers' playoff hopes disappearing long ago, I don't see why they've continued to spoon feed him the best minutes while a guy they invested a top-5 pick in plays way down in the lineup.
James Tanner
I think the obvious answer here is Lucic, and so I thought I'd go in a different direction and say Henrik Zettrberg.
The Red Wings are a team in a rebuild (or who should be) and they have made the 37 year old Zetterberg the third most used 5v5 forward in the NHL.
Now, it's not so much that Zetterberg is a bad player, it's that the Red Wings should be giving his ice time to Larkin and Mantha. Zetterberg is on a 53 point pace, a decline from last season by almost 15 points.
Additionally, he's going to finish with his lowest goal total of his career. His possession numbers are strong for a player getting this much ice time on a bad team, and he is definitely still a usefull player. He just shouldn't be third in the NHL in ice-time (f).
Detroit seems very confused about how to rebuild their team.
Peter Tessier
The should be a long list right? Every team has one (some more) but narrowing them down to one is not as easy as it would seem. The Canucks had Loui Eriksson who is now injured. The Jets have Matt Hendricks, but is there any player that meets the criteria more than the Oilers and Milan Lucic?
First the money being spent on him to deliver so little value but then factor in the usage of him and the contract and it explains so much about the Oilers struggles. Now the Oilers ineptitude is not completely dependent on Lucic but it certainly has a role in it based on what he is believed to provide, their cost, and their results. As a writer who watched a team trot out less than desirable players for years and the results once those players were gone it's remarkable how much addition by subtraction can affect a team.
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