Rumor: Canucks have contemplated a player for player trade for Milan Lucic.

One problem for another.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Rumor: Canucks have contemplated a player for player trade for Milan Lucic.
Mike Wulf/CSM/Zuma

By now it is a poorly kept secret that the Milan Lucic experiment has completely failed in Edmonton. In his first season as an Edmonton Oiler Lucic was a decent enough player, picking up 23 goals and 27 assists for a total of 50 points on the season, but his production has fallen off a cliff in back to back seasons and there have been no signs of a turn around.

The man who gave Lucic his now obviously ridiculous contract, one that pays him an average annual value of $6 million per season over 7 years, has a full no momvement clause through most of the deal, and is loaded with buyout protection on top of it, was general manager Peter Chiarelli and there were reports that even he realized that he had miscalculated on the Lucic deal. There were reports that Chiarelli tried to trade the veteran forward but was asking way too much in return, while interim Oilers general manager Keith Gretzky reportedly also was open to the idea of a Lucic trade but such a deal never materialized. Now it will fall on newly appointed general manager Ken Holland to solve the Lucic problem and the prospects of doing so without having to seriously sweeten the deal seem few and far between. There is one team however that could potentially offload the Oilers problem, and they could do so by offloading a problem of their very own onto the Oilers.

In a recent article for The Hockey News writer Jared Clinton touched on the fact that the Vancovuer Canucks could be a potential lifeline for the Oilers in this scenario. Although Clinton did not report that there had been any talks between the Canucks and the Oilers on this front, he did report the fact that the Canucks had held internal discussions regarding the possibility of acquiring Lucic from the Oilers in a one for one trade involving forward Loui ErikssonFrom Clinton:

It was reported that the Vancouver Canucks internally discussed a Lucic-for-Loui Eriksson swap. And while Oilers fans might not be keen on that kind of contract-for-contract exchange, it might just be that such a move is Holland’s best option.

As bad as Lucic has been for the Oilers, Loui Eriksson has been just as bad for the Vancouver Canucks. This is not a sexy trade for either organization but if such a trade could breath new life into these players you can see why both sides might consider making such a deal. Lucic would give the Canucks a guy who could protect the likes of Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser on the ice, while Eriksson would give the Oilers a skilled forward that is only a few years removed from a 30 goal season with the Boston Bruins.

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