Almost zero point in buying out Lucic other than creating a vacant spot. No cap savings. Doesn't help other than sink us for two years. Neal was the problem, where scouting identified him as a viable target. Very few of the trades have worked out recently; Lucic, Jarnkrok, Carpenter, Lazar to name a few.
I don't have a problem with Kadri or Huberdeau or Weegar. Rooney was before the Tkachuk situation was an issue. Other than him, we are paying the cost it takes to play here. Kadri went for less than was expected. But that doesn't absolve him for keeping Lucic. At worst Monahan would be on IR for part of the the season again and we have a real player as opposed to Lucic. At best, we have a Backlund level player that we can re-sign next season.