Lucic says there are way more Oilers fans than Flames fans in Alberta

After playing for both NHL teams in Alberta, Milan Lucic seems confident that there are plenty more Edmonton Oilers fans throughout the province than Calgary Flames fans.

Lucic recently appeared on the Clearing the Crease podcast, hosted by James Cybulski featuring Mike Commodore and Andrew Raycroft, and was asked what the biggest difference was between playing for the Oilers and the Flames. Lucic spent three seasons with the former from 2016 to 2018 before being traded to the latter with whom he spent the past four seasons.

Lucic began his response by saying perhaps the most significant difference was the Connor McDavid effect of playing with the Oilers and also went on to say how cool it was to play for an organization that had so many greats in the past, such as Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. While those responses seemed standard, he proceeded to give one take that may rile up some Flames fans.

“When you go on the road, a lot more people know who the Oilers are, versus the Flames,” Lucic began. “Even in Alberta, it’s probably 70 [percent] to 30, Oilers over Flames [fans].”

While Flames fans may disagree, it is hard to argue with Lucic. Not only do the Oilers have 945,000 Twitter followers to the Flames’ 686,000, but they have nearly double the amount on Instagram with 814,000 to the Flames’ 443,000.

Part of this could be due to the fact that, despite playing in the WHA for the first eight years of their existence, the Oilers were founded in 1971, while the Atlanta Flames didn’t relocate to Calgary until 1980. Whatever the reason, it seems as though Lucic may be correct.

During his seven seasons playing in Alberta, Lucic struggled to live up to his $42 million contract. After a solid first year with the Oilers in which he recorded 50 points, his production dropped in each of the next two seasons.

Due to the poor production, he was traded to the Flames in exchange for James Neal. While he provided a nice physical edge in the Flames’ bottom six, he produced well below expected from an offensive standpoint of a player commanding $6 million annually.

Thankfully for Lucic’s sake, he no longer has to worry about the burden of his lucrative contract as it officially expired on July 1. He has since signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the organization he began his career with, the Boston Bruins.

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