A player that could be of interest to the Edmonton Oilers this summer is 27 year old Milan Lucic. There have been rumblings that the Oilers could potentially add another player with size to play in their top nine, along with Patrick Maroon and Zack Kassian, with Lucic being at the top of the list of potential acquisitions.

I wrote an article on Lucic about a month ago and came away with this: Lucic is a solid forward, who brings size to a roster and can play top line minutes. But his point production has been declining and is expected to decline further based on his style of play. He really isn’t worth the dollars and term he’ll likely be commanding (guessing more than $6 million over at least six seasons), and is actually producing at a similar rate as the reliable, and cheaper, Benoit Pouliot.

But since people are talking about Lucic again, I thought I’d look at the numbers once more. Maybe I’m missing something, who knows.

At first glance, it’s easy to see why teams will likely be inquiring about the forward who hits free agency this summer. He’s big, he fights, he has produced at a first line rate (Appendix A: Warrior Chart) and he’s only 27. Below are his 5v5 numbers since he broke into the league (Source: War on Ice).

Full article is at The Copper & Blue.