Trust me I have interest in him as a player, however I have heard less than glowing reports from some Islanders fans over the course of this season and his contract is not a cheap one if his play falls off a cliff. No insult taken, I can tell by your posts that you are interested in a genuinely respectful discussion so all good there! I just think that with no salary retention we'd need something else of substance with value that we could eventually plug into the lineup or use as trade or to stock our prospect cupboard. Something that would be exempt from the expansion draft.
Hypothetically Eberle completely bombs, you are on the hook for 3 years and then his salary comes off the books. Now if Boychuk bombs we are on the hook for 6 years. He is not 28 like Lucic is, he is already 32. I have no issue with Boychuk the player, as a matter of fact I was REALLY hoping that we'd land him before he was traded to your team. His contract though could be a killer for us especially when McDavid will be eating up probably $10 million or so in cap.