If you have been searching for a feel-good Bruins’ story final summer time – and after the surprising playoff flameout and the departure of almost half of the 65-win roster, feel-good tales have been in brief provide – the return of Milan Lucic after a eight years out west match the invoice.
In his eight years in Boston, Lucic’s rugged fashion of play touched a nerve within the group’s fandom, very like Terry O’Reilly’s did. And it didn’t damage he was a part of the crew that gained a Stanley Cup.
Yes, the cynical amongst us might be forgiven in the event that they seen the signing with a jaundiced eye, that it was a comparatively low cost method (one yr, $1 million) to maintain the vast majority of followers pleased whereas the membership goes by means of a transitional yr. Lucic, in spite of everything, is seven years faraway from his final 20-goal season in Edmonton and had simply 7-12-19 totals in Calgary final yr.
But early indications are that whereas Lucic is eagerly consuming in all of the nostalgia, particularly with the Centennial season celebrations occurring, he’s additionally right here to get probably the most out of his nonetheless formidable 35-year-old physique. He had an excellent coaching camp and, within the season-opening win, he and linemates John Beecher and Jakub Lauko set the tone earlier than Lucic’s backhand move sprung David Pastrnak for the eventual game-winning objective. Not a nasty re-entry.
Lucic has at all times taken a heart-on-his-sleeve method to the sport, however he involves his second go-round in Boston with a extra mature degree of gratitude.
“It’s funny because I feel I went through a lot of soul-searching the last couple of years,” Lucic instructed the Herald the day after the opener. “You get down, you get frustrated when things aren’t going well for you, you’re not living up to expectations – and you’re not living up to your own expectations. Sometimes you’ve just got to take a step back and your attitude’s got to change. And just be grateful for the opportunity to be back here, be grateful that you’re still playing the game, be grateful that you’re still healthy. I’ve played a long time and it’s not like I’ve played an easy game. I’ve played a hard game not just for the last 17 years, you can add on the three years in junior. So the last 20 years of my life. So I’m just grateful for all of that. And just another thing I talked about a lot was finding and playing with that joyful aggression and just combining the two. Those are the things that keep the game fun for me and that’s how I want to keep going.”
Lucic got here into camp in nice form. He continued his low season exercises in his hometown of Vancouver with coach Ian Gallagher, the daddy of Montreal Canadiens ahead Brendan Gallagher. He integrated loads of assault bike exercises into his routine and feels it’s made a distinction.
“As you get older, sometime you work smarter,” mentioned Lucic. “You’ve still got to work hard. I don’t want to say it’s smarter versus harder because you’ve still got to work hard. But it’s just knowing your body and doing what you can to keep up. Not just keep up but also push the pace and play at a high level.”
His days of using on a primary line and scoring 30 objectives could also be behind him, however that doesn’t imply he’ll be endlessly pigeon-holed as a fourth liner. With Lucic’s strong camp and the best way he began the season, he might make coach Jim Montgomery’s expectations evolve. Montgomery mentioned he figured he’d play Lucic 10-12 minutes an evening, however Lucic skated 13:39 within the opener. And it was no accident he was on the ice with Pastrnak for the winner.
“We knew that he was going to be important to our leadership corps and I knew that not only is he a physical presence in the league, but he can make plays,” mentioned Montgomery. “I think his ability to make plays is very underrated – by everybody. He’s a guy who can make finishing plays. We saw it in the exhibition season and we saw it (in the opener). The backhand sauce? Not a lot of people make that play that easily at full speed. But if he keeps playing like this, obviously he’s going to keep getting rewarded with more ice time than maybe even I envisioned, never mind everybody else. That’s because he’s built in the team game and he’s making plays.”
After 16-plus years within the league, Lucic’s tough-guy repute precedes him, particularly to younger gamers like Lauko. But the rambunctious Lauko has rapidly seen there’s extra to Lucic’s sport than brute power.
“He’s been playing for a long time and you can tell he’s not on the ice just to bring the fear. He’s good,” mentioned Lauko. “He made a nice play on the first shift to me in front of the net, unfortunately I didn’t score. He did capitalize a little later with Pasta with the backhand saucer. Looch, with the backhand sauce! He’s a good player and it’s easy to play with him. It’s like when he’s in the O-zone and he’s got the puck on the boards, you know he can hold it, even with two guys on him. It makes it easier for us. Even when we play against any line, everyone knows that Looch is on the ice so that gives us just a little bit of space.”
Lucic isn’t setting any unrealistic expectations on himself, however he’s not putting in any synthetic ceilings on what he might be able to ship, both.
“I’m just doing what I can to help the team in any position I’m put into. I think the whole lineup is going to be pretty flexible throughout the year, not just with myself but with everyone, with certain guys going on certain nights,” mentioned Lucic. “So for me, it’s just bringing it every night and doing the same things. It’s funny, my game has always been the same since I was a rookie. When I play straight lines and physical, that’s when I seem to have the biggest impact on the game. I’m just focusing on that. The main thing for me was I felt like I had a good camp. The two preseason games I played, the last five periods of them, I felt like I played my game. I just wanted to build of of that. Use the emotion, use the adrenaline. I’ve got to find that within a game-to-game basis.”
And to this point, it looks as if he’s loved each minute of his Boston return. All week he’s been surrounded by a number of the biggest stars to have performed the sport on this city and, in late summer time, he realized that he the truth is is one in every of them when was title to the Historic 100 Bruins group. It’s an honor he doesn’t take evenly.
In the pre-game ceremony to the opener, Lucic additionally received to witness how a lot the 2011 Stanley Cup group, of which he was very a lot a component, is appreciated. As common, Bobby Orr received the most important roar from the group, however members of the ’11 group prompted fairly a stir once they have been launched, too.
“A close second,” mentioned Lucic with a beaming smile. “I’ll take it!”
Source: www.bostonherald.com