Rumblings during the lead-up to this past weekend's NHL draft that the Bruins would actually consider dealing power forward Milan Lucic seemed farfetched and, ultimately, silly.
Now that Lucic, the one-time big, bad Bostonian, who very much embodied the ideal of the "Bruin Way," has been shipped off to the cozy confines of southern California and the Staples Center, the home of the Los Angeles Kings, the question becomes what kind of year the rugged winger will have with his new NHL franchise.
At least one unnamed Western Conference coach believes Lucic is in a very good position and thus may be set to return to his old, dominant ways under Kings head coach Daryl Sutter.
"He's going to have a huge year. We all know it," the coach said to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.ca.
For the Kings, with Mike Richards put on waivers and Tyler Toffoli recently resigned to a two-year bridge deal, their offensive depth chart is starting to take shape.
While it's early and there's no definitive certainty just where Lucic will end up, there's no question that he'll find himself manning the wing alongside either Anze Kopitar or Jeff Carter. While it would seem an easy thing to simply plug Lucic in on the right wing with Kopitar and Marian Gaborik in place of the soon-departed Justin Williams, he's been on the left almost exclusively during his NHL career.
Gaborik could simply swap over to the right wing, making space for Lucic on the top line, but he seemed to find success with Kopitar on the left toward the end of last season and Lombardi may not want to risk losing that production. There's also every possibility Lucic will slot in on the second unit next to Carter and likely Toffoli for Sutter.
Most importantly, no matter where he ends up, Lucic seems set to make a significant mark with a team that has found great success utilizing players with his particular skillset in recent years.
"After a final where the Blackhawks and Lightning emphasized skill and speed more than physicality, the Kings added a big-time power forward to an already imposing lineup," writes Friedman. "They are sticking with their winning identity in the face of this trend. Will be fascinating to watch."
Lucic, 27, finished last season for the Bruins with 18 goals and 26 assists - good numbers, but perhaps not worth the $6 million cap hit Lucic carries.
Of course, it was only a few short seasons ago when Lucic potted 30 goals and 32 assists and then followed that up with a 26 goal, 35 assist campaign. It's certainly troublesome that his scoring numbers have trended consistently down since that 30-goal 2010-11 season, but much of that can be pinned on injuries, both to Lucic and the playes around him, and there's likely no NHL coach better equipped to coax a return to that once-dominant form out of Lucic than Sutter.
The price for Lucic was hefty - Martin Jones, the 13th pick in the first-round and prospect Collin Miller - and he's entering the final year of his deal, meaning negotiations are in the works, but he seems to have landed in the only NHL situation which could be as good or better than Boston for a rugged power forward.
And really, considering one of the major keys to the Kings' recent run of success is their ample depth, Lucic may only need to maintain his current level of play in order to impact the organization's fortunes positively moving forward.
