I feel like we're lurching toward the inevitability of a Lucic-for-Eriksson swap of bloated contracts from the 2016 free agent class — and I can't say I'm thrilled about it.
I don't imagine anything could happen until the Oilers lock down their new GM. That search may have hit a pothole on Thursday, when the Vegas Golden Knights stepped up and promoted Kelly McCrimmon, rather than risk losing him to another organization.
McCrimmon was widely believed to be a top target for the Oilers, who seemed to step up the pace of their GM search last week after Vegas was abruptly eliminated from the playoffs.
At the press conference on Thursday, George McPhee was adamant that it was his idea to move himself out of the GM's chair and remain president of hockey operations, making room for a promotion for McCrimmon without much change in the structure of their working relationship.
It seems like the same might not be true for Ken Holland in Detroit. Two weeks ago, he vacated his GM position to make room for the return of Steve Yzerman, but the chatter among the league's insiders seems to suggest that Holland may still want to be a GM.
Whether Lucic's tenure continues in Edmonton will be tied to which man eventually lands the GM's job, as well as what ends up happening with the Oilers' coaching gig. Ken Hitchcock is still listed as head coach on the
Oiler's website but again, I imagine the new GM will get to decide whether to stick with Hitch or try something different — and that'll most likely be done before any big player moves are made.
According to
CapFriendly, the Oilers have $71 million committed to 15 players for next season. Based on the estimated salary cap of $83 million for 2019-20, that leaves them with just $12 million to fill out their roster with eight more players. The good news is that they don't have any big free agent signings to deal with. Jesse Puljujarvi has completed his entry-level contract but hasn't exactly set himself up for a Mitch Marner-type deal; their biggest ticket might end up going to 28-year-old UFA Alex Chiasson, who finished fourth on the team with 22 goals while playing on a contract worth just $650,000.
Lucic's deal carries a cap hit of $6 million a year for four more seasons and carries a full no-move clause. As things stand now, that'd mean he'd have to be protected in the Seattle expansion draft, but if he waived the clause to facilitate a trade, it could also be wiped out by the acquiring team as one of the terms of the deal. That's what happened to P.K. Subban when he was dealt to Nashville, two days before the NMC he'd originally negotiated with Montreal was scheduled to kick in. From
Subban's page on CapFriendly:
NMC begins on July 1, 2016; NMC was not honoured by NSH after the trade on June 29, 2016
As Nucker correctly points out in today's comments, Lucic does have more power than Subban, whose no-trade hadn't kicked in yet when he was dealt to Nashville. As a result, he had no say in whether or not the Predators would honour that clause — and they didn't. Lucic would have to agree to waive his no-move clause to facilitate a trade, and would also be able to veto a deal that didn't include the no-move if it was still important to him. It would all come down to how badly he wants to be a part of whatever deal the Oilers are able to come up with.
The Canucks went hard after hometown boy Lucic in free agency in 2016, but he rebuffed them for a chance to sign with Connor McDavid and the Oilers. Lucic added fuel to the idea of a possible return to Vancouver in an interview with Sportsnet 650 earlier this week, which is transcribed here:
This isn't just an idle maybe-someday pipe dream, either. Lucic sounds like a guy who has given some thought to whether he would waive that NMC for Vancouver if he was asked:
I think the Canucks right now are a very exciting team. I love what (Vancouver GM, Benning) Jim’s done as far as building the team within through the draft and developing players. He’s done a great job of that. I think (Coach Green) Travis has done a really good job as well from a coaching stand point. Like I said, it’s an exciting team and it’s a growing team and you never know what the future has in store for you.
I remember doing an interview back in ’07 before the Mem Cup and I said it would always be a dream of mine to some day play for the Canucks. You still have that kid inside of you. You still have that dream of playing for your home town team.
Now, add in another piece of the puzzle. As he embarks on his preparation for the World Championship with Team Sweden, Loui Eriksson has admitted to Swedish media that he and Travis Green don't see eye-to-eye.
Eriksson talks about how he likes living in Vancouver and his body feels good, but his diminished ice time makes it hard for him to put up the numbers he's posted on other teams.
Per Patrick Johnston's translation:
“The coach and I don’t really get on 100 per cent. It is difficult when I do not get the same trust that I received from all the other coaches I had during my career. Of course it is tough on that front.”
To me, that's kind of a chicken-and-egg situation. Even in his first year, under Willie Desjardins, Eriksson didn't play as much as I'd expected he would with the Sedins. In 65 games, he averaged 18:41 of ice time and recorded 0.37 points per game. Then, in Travis Green's first season, he played just 50 games and dropped to 16:16, but his production actually spiked up a bit, to 0.46 points per game. Last year was his healthiest—he played 81 games and was a healthy scratch once—but his production dropped back to 0.36 points per game in 14:04 of ice time, often in the bottom six.
Eriksson's cap hit is also $6 million, but his contract is one year shorter than Lucic's. He has a full no-trade clause for next season, which changes to a modified no-trade where he'd submit a 15-team "no" list starting in 2020-21.
It's not an easy idea to embrace, but I think we'll keep hearing about a possible Lucic-for-Eriksson swap over the coming weeks and months, as the Oilers try to get their house in order for next season.
To wrap up today—if you missed it, please check out this piece I put together on Patrick Kane's off-ice training. He's gotten tremendous results from a year of working with his current trainer, Ian Mack, who believes his focus on mobility and correcting imbalances not only improves performance, it can also help prevent injuries. Mack's a fascinating guy, with a real knack for explaining his philosophies in terms that we can all understand.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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