Quoting: CrownRoyal
Spoken like someone that doesn't know a thing about the players in question.
You citing Ryan is worthless shows nothing but your ignorance as he is a top end PKer, elite faceoff man and good for 35 points while driving his line, creating energy and being reliable defensively.
Lucic's contract is not great, but with Edmonton paying 12.5% of his cap hit and having already paid the bulk of his contract; the amount of real dollars we are actually paying Lucic isn't much an overpayment, not worth giving up a 1st and a decent prospect to give up. Lucic has been quite good for the Flames, contrary to what people like you want to believe.
Hoffman might score 30 goals on a team like Florida, but on the Flames he would be on the 2nd PP unit and thus his goal production would drop.
So I stand by my point that Hoffman (at 20-25 goals) is not worth losing one of our best PKers and getting easier to play against.
spoken like someone who just reads analytic charts all day and doesn't actually watch hockey.
Ryan may be a solid 3rd liner, but with a flat cap, no team would be paying more than a mid round pick for his services. He may be a solid player, but in terms of trade value, he has little at the moment. A team desperate for a 3rd line centre could sign Haula or Soderberg for less.
Lucic is awful. please do not defend him. He is a massive overpayment even with retention. He had a couple could playoff games sure, but in reality, he is a 4th line player making 5.25 million. In a flat cap world, he has very negative value. In order to dump him it would cost MORE than a first round pick. Lucic hasn't been good for the flames. he hasn't been good since 2016/17. he has a combined 24 goals over the last 3 seasons. That contract is immovable without sending significant pieces the other way.
Hoffman at 25 goals is still infinitely better than Lucic and Ryan. This makes the flames clear cut better. Just dumping Lucic period, makes this team better.