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At least 10 clubs have already called to express interest in Lucic, who was in Edmonton Tuesday. His camp is expecting a significant offer from one, or two, Eastern Conference teams, on Friday and, of course, one from Vancouver.

The ask right now is reportedly six years at $36 million.

Some think the Canucks would be willing to top any offer.

Canucks management and ownership met with Lucic Monday in Vancouver. As the story goes, they had a chance encounter with Mayor Gregor Robertson, who just happened to be eating at the same restaurant as the Canucks and Lucic, the Blue Water Cafe.

If meeting the mayor, along with the big offer the Canucks are expected to table, aren’t enough to sway Lucic this week, among the most disappointed in the city will be in the Canucks front office.

Benning, the Canucks’ general manager, has been either chasing, or thinking about chasing, Lucic for a year.

The hope was Lucic would want to come home to play with the Sedin twins, and that line would carry the Canucks from third last in the league to playoff contention.

When Benning was hired, he pitched a fairly quick turn-around for the Canucks and not a long rebuild. The only way to get that done now is to bring in some impact free agents.

If not Lucic, the Canucks are expected to go hard after Loui Eriksson and work their way down the free agent tree from there.

If Lucic does spurn his hometown to sign with the Oilers, many believe it’s more about the team than the city.