What could Milan Lucic fetch the Calgary Flames on the trade market?

This chart shows an isolated impact – meaning we are able to successfully account for teammates, scoring situation, coaching system, etc. – largely getting to that this is what Lucic contributes individually to the team in his ice time. No it is not flattering as his rebound chances he creates tend to be not very dangerous at all. In fact they just lose possession most of the time those happen.

His offensive impact has not been a positive for a while. This is going to diminish the possible return from someone wanting to acquire him.

Defensive zone impact

I show this player card from AllThreeZones.com because it highlights an area that Lucic can still help in. He is good at doing the right thing in his own defensive zone. He doesn’t run around trying to cover for the defence or centre but rather does his job of being a passing outlet and trying to get the puck out fairly well. He still has a high fail % which once again would diminish a potential return.

(For those curious these are not tracked with a chip of any kind – they are manually done by a gentleman named Corey Sznajder. He watches the games on replay, slows everything down so he doesn’t miss anything, and then enters the data into his database. I consider it a highly reliable source and the single best public one available for raw transitional data.)

Very clearly we can see Lucic is still a very adept forechecker and still plays with an ability to keep his own side of the defensive zone impacted with a lower volume of shots.

“Intangibles”

Here is where you can find your value for a player like Lucic. Veteran guy, over 1,000 games, good in the room, works hard, former Stanley Cup champion, toughest guy in the league – you name the intangible value and it’s almost a guarantee it is attached to Lucic’s name. If a team wants a fourth line left wing that can play a physical game, Lucic could be an option. How much does one pay for the intangibles though?

Final thoughts

A team acquiring Lucic would not be in it for his scoring acumen. No, he’s rather set in what he does now – but his experience could be good for a young team that’s heading into the playoffs. He’s one of four pending UFAs (along with Michael Stone, Trevor Lewis and Brett Ritchie) and his name alone seemingly would command the best return.

Again, this is only necessary if the Flames continue to lose this season and stray a bit further from a playoff spot.

Calgary only has five picks this draft (in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th rounds), all being their own picks. Recouping any asset for Lucic if the playoffs are going to be missed is a win for the Flames. If anybody calls for him and he’s willing to go there, it should be done.