Oilers sign Milan Lucic to seven-year, $42 million deal

The Edmonton Oilers have signed rough and tumble left winger Milan Lucic.

The 28-year-old left winger signed a seven-year deal worth a reported $42 million US. The recently traded Taylor Hall was being paid $6 million per year over a seven-year contract.

The Vancouver, B.C. born player held talks with many other organizations, including the Montreal Canadiens, but told Sportscentre that his signing with the Oilers came down to `the McDavid factor," referring to Oiler star centre Connor McDavid

It is being speculated that Lucic will take Hall's spot in the lineup.

Ryan Batty, the managing editor of Copper and Blue, said while Lucic is a great player the length of the contract is a bit disconcerting — especially with Lucic's gritty style of play. 

"It's not a bad deal for years one, two and three. Years four and five, he's probably going to slide a bit, but he may surprise you. It's years six and seven where the concerns come in, that he won't be worth the money being paid."

'The power forward everyone wants'

Batty described Lucic as having a "really exciting style of play" and is "the power forward everyone wants."

"Lucic can play on your top line and he's physical," said Batty. "He is an effective hockey player, he's not a third-line guy that's a grinder. He has legitimate skills, he's a smart hockey player.

"Lucic is a little bit of everything. He's maybe not fantastic at any individual aspect of the game but he does everything well."

Lucic is known around the league as a winger who plays with, shall we say, a little bit of roughness.

He's a tough hard-nosed power forward who, while he doesn't fight regularly, won't hesitate to drop the gloves as Darnell Nurse learned oh so well last season.

'McDavid's Semenko'

Some people online have already taken to calling Lucic "McDavid's Semenko." Dave Semenko was essentially Gretzky's on-ice bodyguard  but Batty thinks this may be a unfair comparison. 

"There is always a desire in Edmonton to connect things back to the 1980s," said Batty. "I don't think it's a great comparison because I don't think the style of play is similar and I don't think the game is similar.

"You don't want the guy you pay $6 million to go out there and punch people and potentially breaking his hand. That's crazy to me." 

​Lucic was just one of many much sought after free agents who were expected to be scooped up on Friday.

• NHL free agency and trade tracker

The player won the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011. He has 397 points in 647 games, but also has 851 penalty minutes.

The power forward scored 20 goals and 35 assists in 81 games last season for the Los Angeles Kings.