Heading into free agency this summer, forward Milan Lucic can expect to get paid. His past performance, including a championship in Boston, along with his reputation of being a big, physical player will ensure that there will be many teams interested in signing him, ready to pay top dollar for the 27 year old. He’ll be coming off of a three year deal that he signed with Boston, which paid him $18 million.
With Peter Chiarelli managing the Oilers now, there will definitely be some chatter about Lucic signing in Edmonton. But there are a few things to consider if Edmonton wants go down that route.
First off, adding Lucic is going to require a heavy contract, likely in the 6-7 year range. It’s likely his last “big’ contract, so I wouldn’t expect he and his agent to sign for a discount unless it’s with a legitimate contender like Los Angeles. Adding him would require the Oilers to move out another contract, or two, plus somehow find enough cap space to sign a few unrestricted (and possibly restricted) free agent defencemen.
Full article is at The Copper & Blue.
The SuperFan 
The team needs a better defence.
Yeah, that was one of my key takeaways. Money should be better allocated to address defence.
Premium free agents like Lucic will have many better options than Edmonton. no offence to edmonton, but its on the least desireable list because veteran quality players want to win right away. I dont care if you have conner mcdavid here or a new arean, all players like Lucic care about is winning a cup soon, as he can get his money anywhere. If he chooses to go somewhere not caring about winning, he would probably go back home and play in Vancouver.
Yeah, no doubt he’ll have options. My guess is he’ll either land in Vancouver, or somehow stay in LA. Point of my article was to view the player from the team’s perspective and assess whether they should be involved.