Lucic, Gustavsson Sign with Oilers

Milan Lucic has been reunited with his former GM Peter Chiarelli after signing a seven year contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

The contract, worth $42 million, has a $6 million cap hit per season. Chiarelli was the General Manager of the Boston Bruins in 2011 when Lucic won his one and only Stanley Cup.

In 81 games played with the Los Angeles Kings last season, he had 20 goals, 35 assists, 55 points, 124 shots, 244 hits and averaged 17:14 of ice time per game. Lucic added five game-winning goals and 79 penalty minutes. The left winger had only three assists in five games in the playoffs against the San Jose Sharks, as the Kings were eliminated in the first round. In 647 career NHL games, he has 159 goals, 238 assists, 397 points, 31 game winning goals, and has averaged 15:56 of ice time per game.

Lucic will bring some size and grit to the lineup for the Oilers. He has good offensive zone skills and instincts. The left winger can score goals and set up teammates. He isn’t afraid to hit or mix it up with opponents. Lucic is a prototypical power forward, who will get to the front of the net to score some goals. A downside to Lucic is that he is only an average skater. He also has been known to take the occasional bad penalty and can be over aggressive.

He has scored 20 or more goals in four seasons and 50 or more points in four seasons too. He is one of five players to score more than 100 goals over the last six seasons while accumulating at least 500 penalty minutes.

Lucic will bring some veteran leadership to the Oilers. He will also be able to replace some of the offense lost when Edmonton traded Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils. Lucic should be a good fit in Edmonton, but time will tell.

The Oilers also signed goaltender, Jonas Gustavsson to a one year contract. Gustavsson will make $800,000 next year. He will be the backup to Cam Talbot, who eventually won the starting job last season. In 24 games last season with the Bruins, Gustavsson was 11-9 to go with a .908 save percentage and a 2.12 goals against average. He also had one shutout last season.

Gustavsson has a huge frame and can cover most of the net. He is a butterfly style goalie, who can sometimes go into the butterfly too quickly. His great flexibility sometimes makes saves look easy. He has been injury-prone throughout his career. He needs to work on limiting rebound chances, but he is a quality backup when he’s healthy.