It’s now the hockey offseason. That means there is no more news to be heard and nothing to write about for the next three months. If only it were that easy. This is the time of the year you may get even more rumors, probably next to the trade deadline this may be the busiest time of the year in terms of the swirling rumors.
One player who has been in the center of rumors for the past full season of hockey is Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic. You can go back to at least December of last year to rumors surrounding this guy and maybe even up to last years offseason. It’s not very often you see a top team that contends for a cup nearly every year willing to move a player of Lucic’s caliber. With Boston missing the playoffs this year it didn’t help Milan Lucic case to stay in beantown.
A down year for Lucic saw his numbers go something like this, 18 goals, 26 assists for a total of 44 points. For a team who ranked 22nd in the league in goals for per game (2.55) and for a player who has scored 20+ goals and 30 goals one time, his 18 total goals aren’t enough for Boston. Trading Milan Lucic maybe the best option for Boston for a couple of reason.
One reason would be to free up some cap space. If CapFriendly.com has all the numbers somewhat right Boston is in some cap trouble. Milan Lucic next season is going to make $6 million. Way to much for what he brings. Another reason to consider trading the big man is to maybe help bring in some goals. Maybe in a trade with Lucic you could bring in someone who has a better goal scoring capability or something cheap in free agency or a trade with some other team involving someone else.
What are some teams that could be trade partners with the Bruins. I’m sure if teams got word that Milan Lucic was in fact available there would be plenty of teams interested. He bring that certain combo of skill and toughness. 772 penalty minutes in his career with the average of at least 20 goals in the past couple of seasons proves that.
Calgary Flames could be a team that would have some interest. A team that surprised everyone in the hockey world, a team that was supposed to be a lottery team ended up making the playoffs and even ended up getting into the second round falling to the Anaheim Ducks, no shame there. How many players can you name on that team? If your into hockey and watch a ton of games I’m sure you could name the team but there is no marquee name on that roster at least on the forward side of things. You have great young guys like Monahan, Gaudreau, and Bennett but no veteran forward who can potentially lead this team. Milan Lucic could easily be this guy. Someone who has been there and who could most likely fit into the hard working never give up system they have. What would they have to give up to get Lucic, who knows, I’m not here to discuss that, the fact though is Calgary could be a good fit and they have the cap room to make this work.
Vancouver could be another team. I know what some people are thinking, the 2011 Final. That was a long time ago, nearly half a decade ago. Time heals all wounds. Vancouver is the hometown team of Milan Lucic and how about putting him next to the Sedin’s? The thing that makes this a bad move is Vancouver is also in a bit of a cap crunch, they only have $3 million in cap space and they would have to add more pieces to get this team to be better anyways. If the Canucks could find a way to make this work though, I would consider this for Vancouver.
The team that might make the most sense is the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers have the cap space having over $16 million in space and they have the obvious fact of Connor McDavid joining the team via the draft next season. As mentioned Milan Lucic has a good combo of goal scoring ability and toughness. People won’t want to take a run at the Edmonton young guns with Lucic around. Lucic again has been there and done that, winning a Stanley Cup in 2011 he would be a huge leader for the young team trying to figure out how to play and win in the NHL. Of all the teams who would be interested in Milan Lucic Edmonton should find a way to make this work.
What would it take to get Lucic? I’m not here to say, I’d assume it’d be expensive and probably overly expensive, something like a roster player and a prospect maybe throw in a pick. Not to mention Lucic does have a modified no trade clause. That means Lucic can pretty much pick where he wants to go, if he wants to go anywhere. I assume Lucic would put a list of 8 teams he would accept a trade to or something like 14 teams he would not accept a trade to.
Would any of these three teams be a team Milan Lucic would like to go to, maybe not. Edmonton looks like a really attractive place recently with all the young talent, If I’m Lucic and they call, I’d go there.
What do you think? Should the Bruins trade Milan Lucic and if so where do you think they should trade him and if you were him, where would you want to go? Let me know, comment on the blog and find me on Twitter @CJSportsrambler.
