It’s done. They said he couldn’t be moved with that contract. They said that since Toronto included a 1st rounder to move a single year of Patrick Marleau’s contract, that Edmonton would have to do even better than that! They were wrong!
Milan Lucic is no longer an Edmonton Oiler and Ken Holland moved the unmoveable. He traded four years of Lucic’s toxic deal only having to eat a bit of salary and include a conditional 3rd rounder! Between him and Brad Treliving, they got Lucic to waive his NMC and what have I always said about no-movement clauses or no-trade clauses? They can always be waived…
All Hail Holland! (A.H.H!)
I feel a modicum of relief. Now, I suppose all that’s left is to find out what happens to my favorite Finn (Please come back, Jesse!).
On that note, if you listened to Ken Holland’s media call yesterday, you might’ve heard him comment on Puljujarvi, these are his words on the matter,
I’ve got one outstanding situation with the Jesse Puljujarvi situation that I have to decide what I’m going to do. Whether I decide I’m going to trade him or whether I decide there’s nothing that makes sense and then he needs to make a decision on what he wants to do for this upcoming season…
So, nothing new there. I do wonder though if Holland knows how to pronounce Pulju’s name or if he’s mispronouncing on purpose… Chiarelli couldn’t say it either. Weird.
The Trade
I’m not going to point out all of the statistics and whatnot. There are far better writers out there that have already done that. I’ll just say that I’m on board with the trade so far. Hopefully, Edmonton ends up paying the Flames that conditional third-rounder. I really want Milan to make a race of it though. If he scores 15 for the Flames, then Neal best be scoring 25 for Edmonton.
Did you find it hard to be surprised when the trade came through? I didn’t. I mean, that rumored trade had been out there for a ridiculous amount of time, right? It was inevitable I felt plus, I had a bit of insider help.
I think something could go down as early as tomorrow with the #Oilers. I don't know how big or how small, but the chatter has picked up a bit behind the scenes.
— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) July 18, 2019
I guess it surprised the blue checkmarks out there who thought Brad Treliving was smarter than that, but to the Flames GM’s credit, if Calgary makes the playoffs and Lucic is a force, this will be one gamble that could pay off at least for one year.
I do have one more concern though that isn’t financially related for the Flames. Their coach has never had a player who racks up as many PIMs as Lucic does. So I’m curious, how is he going to deploy this player and use him to his team’s advantage?
As for Neal, it’s great that everyone is jacked to see him on the team and I’m really looking forward to this player. I also reckon that Neal has some flaws that will drive not only fans crazy but his teammates too.
You see, James Neal can embellish things a bit from time to time, he likes to throw cheap shots, and he’s got a “strong personality”, which is media talk for, “he can be a dick”. Why else would he be on his fourth team in four seasons if there weren’t some attitude issues? These character flaws will need to be addressed early so as to prevent him from repeating last season’s production and another dressing room distraction.
On the other hand, isn’t it nice to be on the other side of a “bad shooting percentage” trade and doesn’t it feel like Holland is undoing the damage that Chiarelli did in short time too?
- Chia deals Caggiula, Holland signs Archibald
- Chia deals Eberle, Holland trades for Neal
- Chia deals Strome, Holland signs Haas (this one might be a stretch…)
All that’s left is to see what the Oilers GM does to undo the Taylor Hall trade. The summer of 2020 can’t come fast enough, can it? (Hall might be heading to the open market then…)
I’ll say this though, I was 100% on board with the signing of Milan Lucic and the day after he was brought on board in 2016, I wrote this,
I remember all those years ago when we’d bitch and moan that we didn’t have a guy like Milan Lucic on the team. Now we do and I can’t be happier. To put it in context, I’m as happy that Lucic is an Oiler as the fanbase was sad that Taylor Hall was traded. Honestly, it’s game f*cking on in Oil Country and I truly hope that the rest of the teams in the NHL are ready for the juggernaut that is about to roll through the league come October.
Three seasons later… Egg on my face. I’ll wear it though as these things happen.
Is it James Neal and Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall now?
That said, even after his first year and a half with the Oilers, who could’ve REALLY guessed that his game would fall off that badly. Yes, there was a pocketful of Twitter analysts who predicted that he’d decline in the latter years of his deal, but I’ve yet to find one that said he would after one and a half seasons.
Milan left us with some good memories though, right?
My, how the tide has turned now. Maybe we’ll see Smith v. Lucic II at some point next season. Whatever you want to say about Looch, he always showed up for the Battle of Alberta and somebody was going to be left bloody.
Addressing the Hole Lucic Leaves Behind
I asked a source of mine how he felt about the trade and he said, “I’m good with it.” So, I followed that up by asking what his feeling was now that Matt Tkachuk had some muscle behind him and I was told, “I’m not worried.” This got me wondering if the Oilers would address the toughness that was leaving down the QE2 to Calgary and the name Pat Maroon came to mind. So I enquired, the message to me was that the Oilers WOULD be addressing that but it probably wouldn’t be with Pat Maroon and it probably would be via trade. I know that in the Oilers Now coverage of the trade that Bob Stauffer had mentioned that the Oilers could bring in a guy making 700k to fill that need…
On the other side of the fence, I happened to speak to another gentleman with some deep connections and he said that he couldn’t foresee the Oilers doing anything on the “toughness” front. Mentioned that they already have JJ Khaira and Darnell Nurse to take care of that stuff.
So pontificate away Oilers fans! Who do you think Ken Holland would bring in to play limited minutes and offer some heavyweight physicality?
I know he probably wouldn’t be universally praised, but what about a guy like Auston Watson? My favorite would probably be Miles Wood because that boy can play as well as chuck Knucks. Sam Bennett and Josh Anderson aren’t that far off either as ideal additions to the team.
Funny thing is, they probably don’t need to add anyone in that role. As mentioned above, Nurse and Khaira find themselves in the heavyweight division already, right? So I could see them NOT doing anything about that too.
Lucic’s Parting Shot at McDavid?
In an interview with George Johnson over at NHL.com, Milan Lucic made a comment regarding the leadership of the Flames,
“This is a bit more of an older team, with an older captain, which I had in Boston with Zdeno (Chara). Gio is coming off his best year, winning the Norris Trophy – and deservedly so. That’s a great starting point for any team.” (source)
“With an older captain”… What’s that supposed to mean? Why would he bring that up? It seems like Milan is preferable to a team with older leadership with this comment. Does Lucic believe that there’s no real leader in the locker room and that the big three of Connor, Leon, and Darnell are doing as they like and leaving the rest of the team to pick up the pieces? Maybe Lucic couldn’t handle the leadership role he was given as he was used to playing backup to guys like Chara or Kopitar.
Kinda seems like nothing has changed over the years if that’s the case. The team giving the kids the keys to the city, I mean. And in the future, I don’t think we’ll ever hear Looch going on Edmonton radio and complaining about the youngsters partying a bit too much when he was in Edmonton though…
I’ve always been of the belief that the Oilers need older players on the team that can play still so that the younger players have someone to look up to and to learn from within the locker room. There’s only so much the Oilers alumni can do from the owners box to help…
Going Forward
Right now, we’re looking at this lineup,
Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian
Neal-RNH-Chiasson
Granlund-Hass-Gagner
Nygard-Khaira-Archibald
*Cave
Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Russell
Jones-Benning
*Lagesson-Persson
Koskinen
Smith
So, there’s still room for improvement but I want to propose to you a different forward configuration where Tippett plays the big boys in their natural positions and gives the wings a shuffle. Defense/goaltending remain the same as above.
Neal-McDavid-Kassian
Nygard-Draisaitl-Chiasson (Puljujarvi if he re-signs)
Granlund-RNH-Archibald
Khaira-Haas-Gagner
*Cave
Bringing Neal is allows the team to at least try this tactic without disrupting the line-up drastically. It’s probably a bit too much TOI for Chiasson, but I do like that 2nd line if Jesse comes back, and spare me the “earn it” cries, please. Been there, done that. One has to do what’s best for the team when it comes to the standings at some point.
What do you think? Is this a roster that can compete for a playoff spot now? Let us know in the comments below!
