FLAMES DEAL WITH OILERS
Lucic, Neal swap teams
All across the province, from Claresholm to Camrose, from Strathmore to Stony Plain and even along the blurred border around Red Deer, fans on either side of the NHL’S Battle of Alberta could finally agree on something Friday.
Turns out, Calgary Flames trade acquisition Milan Lucic — yes, that Milan Lucic — was singing the exact same tune.
“You know what? I think this is a good thing for the rivalry,” Lucic said. “Because it riles it up a bit. It makes it a little bit more what it’s supposed to be.”
Certainly spices it up a bit, anyway.
The Flames and archrival Edmonton Oilers swapped onerous contracts and underachieving forwards Friday afternoon, with Lucic moving south to join the crew from Calgary and James Neal headed the opposite direction on the QEII Highway.
The Oilers sweetened the pot by including a conditional third-rounder in the 2020 NHL Draft and by agreeing to retain 12.5 per cent of Lucic’s remaining contract.
Neal, a big-ticket free-agent addition who mustered just seven tallies during his only season in Calgary, was never a fit at the Saddledome and was even healthy-scratched for their final playoff date this spring. Lucic, coming off a career-worst six-goal campaign, has been a popular target for criticism at Rogers Place.
Now, each is the neighbour’s reclamation project.
Both are 31. (Lucic turned 31 in June, while Neal will be blowing out 32 candles before training camp.)
Both have struggled to keep up with the pace of the game.
Both have four years remaining on their contracts. Neal with an annual salary-cap hit of US$5.75 million and Lucic at US$6 million per, with his former employers now covering one-eighth of that.
The Flames, desperate for grit, feel they are bigger and stronger after adding a six-foot-three, 231-pound left-winger to their third or fourth line. The Oilers, desperate for some offensive pop from the flanks, figure they will light the lamp a little more often with Neal on the right side.
“The hope is both guys will benefit from a change of scenery,” said Flames general manager Brad Treliving. “When we look at our group, I think Milan is different than what we have. He brings a presence. He’s a big body. His last two years, I think he would be the first to tell you that it hasn’t gone perfectly. But, and this is nothing against where he was at, but sometimes a change of scenery, new energy, being able to re-boot a bit … it can light the spark again.
“We think he brings a different look to our lineup. We like our team. We think we have a lot of speed, a lot of skill, a lot of competitive people. But there are very few guys in the game that have the presence of Milan. We’re hoping that we can get him in a good spot where he is re-energized and we’re confident that he is going to be a really good addition for us.”
Lucic, who totalled 39 goals and 65 assists in his three seasons in Edmonton, had to agree to waive a no-move clause to approve the change-of-address to Calgary.
He chatted with Treliving, who is trying to tinker after his team posted the best record in the Western Conference last season, but flopped out in the first round of the playoffs. He chatted with Flames bench boss Bill Peters and with associate coach Geoff Ward, who he knows well from their days in Boston.
He even chatted with his former teammate Jarome Iginla, a franchise icon in Cowtown.
“I just think a fresh start is exactly what I needed,” Lucic said. “I think going to a team that was first in the West last year helps too because I know going into the season that we’ll be playing some meaningful games throughout the whole year.
“This is a team that’s looking to make that next step. This is a team that is trying to win the Stanley Cup, and that is something that I’ve been trying to re-achieve since I won it in 2011 (in Boston). That’s what makes me most excited about this move.
“I’m trying to do everything I can to get myself back to the type of player that I know I can be. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and make any promises, but I can promise you that my effort will be there and my physicality will be there. And when those two things are going, everything else follows. It’s about getting my confidence back. It’s about feeling good about myself again. I know these things will happen in Calgary with this move.” Lucic added he wished it was October already.
Across the Wild Rose Province, some fans would likely be willing to fast-forward straight to Dec. 27: the first Battle of Alberta of the 2019-2020 campaign.
Remember, goaltenders Cam Talbot and Mike Smith also switched sides in free agency.
“If you ask me, the Battle of Alberta has been a little bit stale over the last couple of years,” Lucic said. “This is a special rivalry in hockey, this is a rivalry a lot of people take seriously, and I think this is something that ignites it heading into next season. I never thought I’d be on two sides of a rivalry, and that’s why I thought it was crazy when I first heard about this trade, but I think it’s going to add to it.
“I think it’s going to be great for hockey and I think the people of Alberta would love it once the Battle of Alberta gets going again.”
I think Milan is different than what we have. He brings a presence. He’s a big body.
Back when Ken Holland took the job as Edmonton Oilers general manager, everybody in town knew what was on his ‘To Do’ list.
Job No. 1, right at the top, was to trade Milan Lucic.
Actually, better phrased, it was to get rid of Lucic’s contract that was the biggest reason Holland started the job in Salary Cap Hell.
Most hockey insiders believed Lucic, with his seven-year $6-million-a-year cap hit deal, was unmoveable.
And Holland has managed to move him!
In the eyes of most Edmonton fans that were decidedly disappointed in his trade deadline dealing, this made him the winner. But the guys in Calgary are no dummies either and this one is definitely buyer beware on both ends of it.
When the news broke Friday afternoon that Lucic had agreed to waive his no trade clause to facilitate a deal to the Calgary Flames for James Neal, Ken Holland appeared to get his ‘Get Out Of Jail’ card even if Neal’s deal isn’t much better — just apparently easier and cheaper to get out of.
An Edmonton-calgary hockey trade in the Glen Sather days was a non-starter. Don’t even think about it. There have been some made since. When you get one, even of the ‘My Problem For Your Problem’ variety, it qualifies as a blockbuster in Alberta.
At 5:51 p.m. the Oilers made it official, Neal for Lucic and a conditional third round pick.
Flames and Oilers fans can debate all year about which player was worse last year, and the jury would probably still be out by training camp. They both reeked.
But the Flames needed toughness and the Oilers needed a 20-goal scorer to possibly play with Ryan Nugent-hopkins.
Both players are 31, but Lucic has a lot more tough miles and wear and tear on him than the Whitby, Ont. product who will make the Oilers his sixth NHL team in a so-far 766-game career that has taken him from Dallas to Pittsburgh to Nashville to Vegas to Calgary and now to Edmonton.
If Neal’s unproductive season last year was an aberration, then he may have another 20-goal season in him. If not … well, Neal is still going to outscore Lucic.
Neal may only have ended up with seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points last year, but the guy did score 20-plus in his first 10 seasons in the league.
The thought, I’m sure, is that you might be able to build a bridge with him as Holland waits for his forwards on the farm in Bakersfield to develop.
Lucic’s skills as a regular season player disappeared almost entirely as he went into January with only the one goal he had scored in the first game of the year in Goteborg, Sweden.
You can debate all you want about trading the league’s toughest player to your provincial rival.
It’s potentially a trade of one player who is nearing his expiry date for another who is nearing his expiry date.
But it was the size and Lucic’s expiry date on his contract that had Holland in handcuffs.
It was hard not to have a lot of time for Lucic. He was great to deal with from a media perspective. And I believe he would have made a major impact for the Oilers in the playoffs, as he did three seasons ago, if they’d been in them.
And should the Oilers and Flames end up in a playoff series next spring, this will likely look like an exceedingly bad deal for the Oilers. Neal was a healthy scratch for Calgary in Game 5 of the playoffs.
Maybe the best part of this deal is what it does for the mental health of the Oilers out-of-the-playoffs-12-of-the-last-13-years fan base.
They just witnessed a general manager proving he intends to spend the off-season, move by move, to make this hockey team better.