Confirmed Signing with Link: [EDM] Milan Lucic (7 years, $6.000M AAV)

[Extra Texture]

Just admit the truth. Had Dallas or Detroit or LA come close to matching Edmonton he'd be on that team and not the Oilers. This is not exactly rocket science.
And I never said no other GM wanted him. Lots did. Just not close to that price and term.

I'm a neutral fan with no dog in this fight, but it was rumored before he signed that FAs were thinking about the Oilers differently. It's not hard to imagine that someone like Lucic sees Edmonton, with all their talent and a somewhat compotent brain trust in charge and thinks "these guys could be good, soon". And then they come in with a similar offer and make a deal to move Hall (a painful deal but one that gives their team better balance) and maybe he foresees a good tream and wants to get in on the ground floor.

Not disputing that LA, or for that matter any playoff team, would not have been a liklier destination, just that Edmonton is probably not some wasteland for FAs that fans want to believe. Recent history has demonstrated that when perrenial lottery teams come good, it usually happens quickly in one season, not over multiple years (Pens, Caps, Hawks, Florida, etc)

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I don't get it. This was a great signing.

I think in this new modern age we are really underrating players that are above 25. Lucic is freaking 28 years old.... the contract ends when he is 34 which is still a productive age for an NHL player.

Exactly, this does not take him to 38 or 40 years of age or something like that. But it was him signing in Edmonton which magically means that we overpaid him more than anyone else would've because who in their right mind would want to play in Edmonton according to most of the people that post on this board.

I for one like this signing because Lucic changes the look of our top 6, we get *****ed at for having too many small skilled players so we add a big skilled player and that's no good either. Can't win for losing.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I'm a neutral fan with no dog in this fight, but it was rumored before he signed that FAs were thinking about the Oilers differently. It's not hard to imagine that someone like Lucic sees Edmonton, with all their talent and a somewhat compotent brain trust in charge and thinks "these guys could be good, soon". And then they come in with a similar offer and make a deal to move Hall (a painful deal but one that gives their team better balance) and maybe he foresees a good tream and wants to get in on the ground floor.

Not disputing that LA, or for that matter any playoff team, would not have been a liklier destination, just that Edmonton is probably not some wasteland for FAs that fans want to believe. Recent history has demonstrated that when perrenial lottery teams come good, it usually happens quickly in one season, not over multiple years (Pens, Caps, Hawks, Florida, etc)

The Oilers are a quality RH PP point man away from the playoff hunt IMO. I sure as hell wouldn't have said that 4 days ago.

 

[karnige]

Exactly, this does not take him to 38 or 40 years of age or something like that. But it was him signing in Edmonton which magically means that we overpaid him more than anyone else would've because who in their right mind would want to play in Edmonton according to most of the people that post on this board.

I for one like this signing because Lucic changes the look of our top 6, we get *****ed at for having too many small skilled players so we add a big skilled player and that's no good either. Can't win for losing.

a lot of people hate lucic. you hear people go make some moves wtf edmonton! edmonton has made 2 solid moves and now its why would you do that!?

imo the old is out. chia wasn't brought in to rebuild and wait and see. its to make moves and win. oilers are so loaded with talent and prospects its time to do something.

 

[CrypTic]

I think this is the deal the Oilers have to make. price is fair, term is too long but all that means is that you trade a 2nd round pick if you need to dump the contract to a rebuilding team. I am assuming no more than 4 years on an NMC here. Oilers needed a guy that knows how to win, and the team is so much better now than they were. Will it win cups? who knows but they are going a lot of right things here. I am looking forward to seeing them next year.

How? You can't waive him/send him to the minors bc he has a NMC for the entire contract but, in the last two years, he can be traded to an unknown number of teams. It might be ok if it's a large list but the general population doesn't know how many at this point. It might be two or it might be ten. He may have to give them on request or at the beginning of the year. Details are unknown.

Most of the time, someone who doesn't want to be traded can list teams that would be very unlikely to trade for that player. E.g., no "win now" team is going to take a player another team wants to dump bc his play is bad, esp with that contract. Or you can list teams that are very close to the cap already. It's not hard for players with limited NTCs/NMCs to make trading very difficult if they don't want to be traded. Bc his contract is bonus-laden, you won't save $$ by buying him out and most of the $$ will have to be paid even if there is a lockout, which is another problem.

The contract is bad but it might make the Oilers a better team, especially in the early years.

 

[a587b]

It's not a bad contract in context. Let's say that there was a clone of Lucic out there, who was signed with another team for five years instead of seven years or for $5 mil per annum instead of $6 mil, and the Oilers traded for Lucic-Clone rather than signing Lucic the free agent. Well, they got a lesser contract but they would've had to hand over a comparable player in the deal.

Can't compare money and term outside of the context of how the player was acquired. All of the costs of asset acquisition matter, not just the direct monetary cost of the contract that is taken on. In the Oilers' case, they don't have cap issues, they have talent issues and they can't afford to stay in miss-the-playoffs-by-a-mile mode any longer, so getting a guy that fits their needs without having to hand over talent is ideal.

 

[ltpato]

It's not a bad contract in context. Let's say that there was a clone of Lucic out there, who was signed with another team for five years instead of seven years or for $5 mil per annum instead of $6 mil, and the Oilers traded for Lucic-Clone rather than signing Lucic the free agent. Well, they got a lesser contract but they would've had to hand over a comparable player in the deal.

Can't compare money and term outside of the context of how the player was acquired. All of the costs of asset acquisition matter, not just the direct monetary cost of the contract that is taken on. In the Oilers' case, they don't have cap issues, they have talent issues and they can't afford to stay in miss-the-playoffs-by-a-mile mode any longer, so getting a guy that fits their needs without having to hand over talent is ideal.

U wot m8

 

[Nemesis Prime]

The deal is fine, nothing to worry 'bout Oiler fans.

People will give you crap for anything you do at this point.

 

[CrypTic]

U wot m8

I think s/he's trying to say that you need to consider that you don't have to give up other assets when you sign a FA and that, therefore, FAs tend to cost more $$ or longer term. It seems to assume that other ppl in the thread haven't taken that into account but I'm not sure.

 

[WesMcCauley]

The Oilers are a quality RH PP point man away from the playoff hunt IMO. I sure as hell wouldn't have said that 4 days ago.

Im wondering how many times the last 6 years Oilers fans has said something like that....

 

[Legionnaire]

Good luck Milan. Enjoy your time in EDM. You chose well. The Oil are going to be good.

 

[Legionnaire]

Im wondering how many times the last 6 years Oilers fans has said something like that....

I'm sure it is a lot. We Kings fans did for years. I don't even know how many times we were #1 in the prospect rankings here...

But that all changed once we drafted Drew Doughty. Just like how it all changed for the Oil once they drafted McDavid.

 

[48g90a138pts]

Im wondering how many times the last 6 years Oilers fans has said something like that....

None, we had Mr. Norris Trophy for that....

 

[nabob]

The deal is fine, nothing to worry 'bout Oiler fans.

People will give you crap for anything you do at this point.

HF main boards has been crapping on everything the Oilers have done since they drafted Hall, and it's only going to get worse when the team gets better.

 

[JarvisFunk]

Im wondering how many times the last 6 years Oilers fans has said something like that....

Well we've never gotten one so I'd imagine once we do, you'd stop hearing it.

 

[McFlyingV]

This is why he signed. I'll believe Lucic's own words that McDavid/Chiarelli are the biggest reasons he signed rather than some HF posters claiming its because of the money while its been confirmed he had been offered more money.

Would he have signed in LA if they could have given him a similar contract to this? Probably, LA was always his first choice, but Edmonton has been rumoured as a favourite for a long time if LA couldn't sign him and his agent confirmed on radio that he thought it was Edmonton from the start when it became known that LA wouldn't be able to make a competitive offer in terms of money.

 

[McFlyingV]

Yeah, that's it. Nothing more than peanut butter and jelly!



Thanks, but at $6M per season for seven (SEVEN ****ing years!) I'd be investing my money a little more wisely. You know, like a defense, that the Oilers so badly need. Sorry, that's just the jelly in me speaking.




No, the contract wasn't fair. It was by far the worse contract given this off season. BY FAR. Dollar value was ridiculous and the term was worse. Those who think is was a good contract, as you would put it, c) you know nothing about hockey.



Allow me to one up you, Bill. All you have to do is listen to Chiarelli's press conference to know, “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.†He's already experiencing buyer's remorse.

How exactly does the Lucic signing have any bearing on us getting a D? The best D available was Demers and he's far from the type of D we need when we already have Sekera at 5.5. We still have more than enough cap room to bring in a D, but if there's not one available should we just sit on our hands rather than upgrade another area in the lineup?

 

[kingsfan28]

Some people don't like living in busy cities like LA or NYC.

Nobody on the Kings lives in LA. They all live in the South Bay beach cities, with most living a stones throw from the pacific ocean. Doughty can check the surf from his balcony every day..

Lucic not re-signing in LA had more to do with the length [and maybe the NMC] than anything else. LA just wasn't comfortable with giving him 6-7 year deal, and I don't blame them.

 

[I am not exposed]

Nobody on the Kings lives in LA. They all live in the South Bay beach cities, with most living a stones throw from the pacific ocean. Doughty can check the surf from his balcony every day..

Lucic not re-signing in LA had more to do with the length [and maybe the NMC] than anything else. LA just wasn't comfortable with giving him 6-7 year deal, and I don't blame them.

I thought la offered him 8 years but at a lower cap hit?

 

[kurtcobang]

Im wondering how many times the last 6 years Oilers fans has said something like that....

Ill freely admit ive said that every year you're right there. But a lot of other fan bases are saying it to for once. Losing Hall hurt, he was a good soldier and a great player. But in saying that we have a legitimate top pairing ( Larsson- klef) that can play big minutes providing thay can stay healthy.

There are only so many Doughty's in the league and we dont have one so we had to lose a trade to get a more balanced and successful team.

We have a new building, supposedly the best in the league, we have #97 and we have some real veteran leadership in Looch and Hendricks.
I really believe even without a true PP QB we are finally on the upswing

Haters are gonna hate no point arguing and taking shots at each other until Oct 15
Have a good off season HF!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I thought la offered him 8 years but at a lower cap hit?

Knowing Lombardi, he also wouldn't give him an insane NMC like Chiarelli did.

 

[CrypTic]

Knowing Lombardi, he also wouldn't give him an insane NMC like Chiarelli did.

I doubt he'd agree to structuring it with all those bonuses making it essentially buyout proof either.

The current NHL CBA expires at the end of the 2021-22 season, and this way in the event of a lockout Lucic will be able to pocket a $3.0 million signing bonus on July 1 and will only be risking a relatively small $1.0 million salary.

The difficulty of this for the Oilers is that in the event of a decline in Lucic’s performance, the team is going to be stuck. If, for example, events compel Edmonton to try and clear Lucic’s contract in the summer of 2020, a buyout would be almost entirely pointless because the team would only be buying out $4.5 million in total salary as opposed to a cap hit of $18 million over the final three years.

It’s the same problem that the Toronto Maple Leafs ran into with David Clarkson, and 2016 marks the emergence of these deals as the contract of choice for highly-paid forwards. Kyle Okposo, Andrew Ladd and Loui Eriksson all signed deals with similar structures in Buffalo, New York and Vancouver, respectively. Those three teams, along with the Oilers, are all betting heavily that these players will be worth their significant cap hit into their mid- and in some cases even late-30’s.

http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/h...n-lucics-new-oilers-contract-is-buy-out-proof


It's a big gamble for the teams that signed those contracts. If the player doesn't decline significantly, it will be fine. If they do, the contracts will be tough to move, especially bc they have NTC/NMCs as well as the large bonuses. Or the teams may not care about how the contract might affect the team in a few years, e.g., if they think they'll be rebuilding at that time anyway.

 

[voxel]

Oilers will worry about 4,5,6,7 years down the line we they get there. Oilers need to get better NOW and next year. Sniffing the playoffs around the trade deadline should begin to cleanse the losing culture.

 

[Johnnybegood13]

If he stays at the same speed as he is now for even 4 more years this contract is on the OK scale, problem is Bruin fans have complained about him getting slower 2 years ago, last year Kings fans said he couldn't keep up and can't backcheck at all.

I know from experience big guys who play physical wear down quicker but at his age could this be just a case of off season training?

 

[featherhawk]

he can't keep up with mcdavid, he will end up on the second line

three too many years....can't wait to hear what the oil locker room is all about with both Kassian and Lucic in it...