NHL Notebook: Milan Lucic embracing roster competion amid return to beloved Boston

Milan Lucic was unprepared when he first came to Boston in the fall of 2007. 

After going to the Bruins with the 50th overall pick in the second round of the NHL Draft that June, the snarly winger packed the bare minimum upon shipping off for his first NHL training camp. 

"First time I came to Boston, I came with one bag, a hockey bag, and my sticks," Lucic recalled Friday at Warrior Ice Arena following Boston's second captains' practice. 

As he begins his second stint in Black and Gold, now with a wife and three kids to account for, the 35-year-old came prepared, essentially moving a small village from Vancouver to Boston in just a few days. 

"One of my good childhood friends dropped me off with his Ford F-350 because I had so many bags coming here," Lucic said. "This time around, you know, it was 23 bags and three kids and all that. So it's a different time in my life."

Eight years have passed since Lucic's original eight-year go-around in the Spoked-B. While his eldest two kids were born in Boston, most of their childhoods have been spent in Edmonton or Calgary to this point, while his third-born is yet to experience life in Boston. But it hasn't been too much of an adjustment for the Lucic clan since their wheels touched down earlier this week.

"You know what? They've really enjoyed it so far," he said. "We've only been here since Sunday morning. My older two were born here, but obviously, they don't remember much about Boston. So to bring them back to I guess their Bostonian roots is cool, too. They made a comment the other day that they love it here so much they said they never want to leave."

Few were as happy as No. 17 upon making his return to the Hub official on July 1. He was all smiles at Warrior, and there's a chance he's been wearing the same smile for two months. 

It's hard to blame him. There was never a doubt he'd opt for Boston via free agency when an offer came across the table

"It just... it just feels right, every time I wear this logo and sport these colors," Lucic said. "To be honest, it just feels like I'm home again. That's probably the best way to put it. I could say a restaurant or a place or something like that, but at the end of the day, it just feels like I've come back home, and that's the feeling that I've felt so far, being here since Sunday."

No longer the premier power forward he was at the height of his powers, he joins a sizable group looking for consistent work in Boston's bottom-six, including Patrick Brown, AJ Greer, Marc McLaughlin, Johnny Beecher, Jayson Megna, Jesper Boqvist, Danton Heinen, Alex Chiasson and more. Nevertheless, Lucic is no stranger to having to earn his place. 

He was prepared to captain the Vancouver Giants for the 2007-08 WHL season, coming off a 30-goal, 68-point season en route to the Canadian junior hockey's ultimate prize. But plans quickly changed in Boston.

"That first year, like I said, I packed one bag, I had my hockey gear and that was it," Lucic said. "I just came off winning a Memorial Cup in Vancouver with the Giants. I was more in the mindset of, 'OK, I'm gonna go have a good camp, leave a good impression and go back and try to repeat back in junior.' As cuts went on, nobody ever... I never got a call or knock on my hotel room. Eventually, I was here until May. ... Obviously, it ended up being a good enough impression to say the whole year, and then turn into a really good eight years."

Fast-forward 16 years, Lucic may not be outrunning a knock on his door that will send him back to junior, but he is still fighting for his ice. He embraces the challenge that internal opportunity breeds. 

"It's great. I think it's really great. It's what you want in a team, it's what you want in an organization," he said. "I think when you have young guys pushing the older guys, it pushes us older guys to be better and be our best. So to have that competition is what makes a good team even better."

But there's just one major difference from his first training camp to the one that is just 11 days away. Lucic is now the veteran that the youngsters are trying to leapfrog. It's the same competition that ended up setting the foundation of the last Bruins' core as they unseated incumbents to carve out roles ahead of over a decade of success.

"When I got here [in 2007], we had the best defenseman in Zdeno [Chara] and then young guys like myself, [David Krejci] and then eventually [Brad Marchand]. You could even throw [Patrice Bergeron] in that mix because he's not that older than me and Krech. We were young guys pushing the older guys, and the young guys were, you know, in their prime doing their thing," Lucic said. "The thing we always talked about was earned, not given. That's something that I've always kept with me and always thought about as I went through three other organizations and in my life too. You talk about those lessons that you learn and things that you try to pass on to your children and all that type of stuff. That's definitely one of them."

More will be on Lucic's plate in the locker room than when he was last in Boston, now that Chara has been gone for three seasons and Bergeron and Krejci have hung up their skates. He's been preparing to take on added leadership since his initial talks with management in the summer as the B's close the book on one century and usher in the core that will lead the start of the next 100 years. 

“When you lose guys, there’s an opportunity for other guys to step in in certain roles,” Lucic said. “For me, I think it’s more of a leadership role, physical role and just being myself on a day-to-day basis. ... That's having fun being in the NHL, but also knowing when it's go-time, it's go-time.”

He added, “When you lose guys like those leaders it gives other guys like myself an opportunity to step up and carry the torch. I think that’s a big part of my job this year coming in. You’ve got to have fun with it. You’ve got to look forward to it. Even though it’s a big responsibility.”

The Bruins will be glad to have his physicality on their side once again.

"I'm happy to play with a guy like that," said Charlie Coyle, who had Lucic's No. 17 T-shirt many years ago. "Going into the corner with him a few times during games the past couple of years, and it's like, 'Oh baby, here we go.' Have your head up and brace for impact."

Marchand, Bruins leading by committee, for now...

What are captains' practices without a captain, anyway? 

When things got started on Tuesday, there was a clear and obvious tone-setter, even if skills coach John McLean was drawing up the drills. Fellow team leaders Brandon Carlo and Charlie Coyle were vocal, but the energy came and went with Brad Marchand. 

Even if the Bruins have yet to name a successor to the 'C' after Patrice Bergeron, No. 63 feels like a shoo-in, given his tenure with the organization, age, performance and experience under Bergeron's tutelage for over a decade. 

But for now, Marchand isn't caught up in the possibility of shouldering the captaincy. Even with Bergeron and before him Zdeno Chara, it was a collaborative undertaking from the team's leadership as a whole. He expects that to continue. 

“It’s not something that I really think about too much,” Marchand said of potentially becoming captain. “Obviously it’s a big honor to be in the leadership group in this organization when you look at the guys that have been there before. But we’ve always done it collectively as a group, so regardless of who wears it, it’s a collective thing and even guys without a letter step up a lot of times throughout the year. So again, when you lose Bergy and Krech and the leadership that comes with [them] it’s going to come from a group, not from one certain guy or a couple of guys. So that’s what we’re going to rely on this year, particularly at a time like this.”

Whether it was riding shotgun to the left of Bergeron and even at one point Mark Recchi or sharing a locker room with Chara and Krejci, among others to have come and gone, Marchand's had plenty to experience and soak in throughout his evolution from the 'Little Ball of Hate' or 'Nose-Faced Killah' on the fourth line to now one of the league's premier left-wingers. He knows what it takes for the entire leadership group to be effective as a cohesive unit. 

“What the guys in the past have done is they did it as a group,” Marchand said. “They were so good at bringing a group of guys together, having everyone believe the same goal, having a common goal together and believing in it. … There’s no team in any sport that can have one guy dictate what a team does, but it’s how they’re able to bring a group together. And again, that’s what our captains in the past have done and our leadership groups in the past have done, is they’ve been able to lead by numbers and strength in numbers.

“When we had Bergy and [Chara], we had two captains for a while and that just bleeds through the lineup. With Bergy … everyone had a ton of respect for him. So everyone would follow what he did and what he said, but he brought a lot of guys in together and gave them a lot of responsibility and allowed them to feel like they had a voice and that took place again through the lineup.

“So we’re gonna have to do that again this year. You’re not going to replace guys like that in the room. But collectively as a group, we just have to come together and find out what our goals are, what our beliefs are for this season and build on that together.”

Zdeno Chara has more marathons, challenges on his docket

The 46-year-old behemoth shows no signs of slowing down in his retirement after a prolific 24-year-career. 

“I kind of sustained the physical training,” Chara said in a recent interview with the New York Post. “I was adding to my running, getting higher mileage, getting higher bike distances. And then at one point, I knew that I would like to talk to somebody who is more experienced and somebody who would be able to put me on maybe more specific programs to reach some of the goals I set for myself.

After completing the Boston Marathon in April, the 6-foot-9 behemoth plans on adding triathlons, Ironman races and more to his schedule. He'll run the New York City Marathon in November, and he has his sights set on Chicago, Tokyo, Berlin and London down the road. 

Chara not only 'feels the burn,' but he craves it, pushing his body to its boundaries as he keeps his competitive juices flowing. His only rival is his time from the previous day. 

“Finding the limit,” Chara said, per the Post. “Sometimes you get into different mindsets and you learn about yourself a lot through these challenges, through these good runs, bad runs. It’s just, I don’t know how to really explain it, but it’s something that it’s teaching you something about yourself. And it’s a very humbling experience.”

Quenneville, Bowman speak to coaches and GMs in Chicago

Coming up on two years after the Kyle Beach situation in Chicago, ex-general manager Stan Bowman and ex-coach Joel Quenneville met with general managers and coaches from all 32 teams in Chicago on Friday. 

Both Bowman, then Blackhawks GM, and Quenneville, Panthers coach at the time the findings of a third-party investigation came to light, resigned from their posts in October 2021. 

Neither were required to be at the meeting, but were given the chance to share their experiences and what they learned from the sexual abuse scandal, commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters. 

“They were here voluntarily,” Bettman said. “It wasn’t something that they were told they needed to do. We said, ‘If you’d like the opportunity to address the group, you could have it.'"

Bettman is still weighing whether or not either Bowman or Quenneville will earn reinstatement from the league and did not comment on what either said Friday:  “I still have to make a judgment as to when or whether it’s appropriate for them to be reinstated, so that’s not a question I’m prepared to answer right now.”

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis, among others, said his takeaway was to ensure any sort of scandal with his team is handled and dealt with thoroughly, according to Sportsnet's Eric Engels. 

“I just think, in general, you’ve got to address it, you’ve got to communicate it to people that are above, but you also follow up and make sure there’s actions taking place," St. Louis told reporters. "I think with where we are as a society, I don’t think there are any more secrets. I think we’ve all gotta be better. If you bring stuff up, you have to make sure to follow up and make sure that actions are taking care of it.”

Another 2024 free agent could soon come off the board

As of right now, Sam Reinhart is slated to become one of the more sought-after forwards in the 2024 free-agent class, entering the final year of a three-year deal with a $6.5 million cap hit, which he signed after the Panthers relinquished a first-round pick and goalie phenom Devon Levi to Buffalo at the 2021draft. 

The 27-year-old has become a reliable top-six contributor from the tail-end of his Buffalo days to now coming off the two best seasons of his career in Florida – 33 goals and 82 points in 2021-22 before 31 goals and 67 points in 2022-23. He's scored at least 20 goals in seven of his eight full NHL seasons, hitting the mark in six straight years and reaching 30 the last two. 

Between his consistent production and versatility as a winger and center, the right-shot would surely have quite a market next offseason, especially considering the sizable influx of cash that is expected for the league's salary structure. But if he and the Panthers have their ways, he won't make it to unrestricted free agency.

"Billy [Zito] has given me the longest deal I have had in this league, so this is nothing new,” Reinhart told reporters before throwing out the first pitch at a Miami Marlins game this week. It is not something I stress over or lose sleep over too much. They know I want to be here, I know they want me here."

He added, "We have no problems sort of waiting it out so I am just looking forward to the start of the season being here. We have both expressed our interests and our desire for me to be here. And that’s exciting. My focus is solely on the start of camp and the start of the season.”

Reinhart did plenty of damage in the first-round series against the Bruins after returning from injury for the playoffs, putting up four goals and an assist in six games, including a tuck in Game 7. He finished the postseason with 13 points (8g, 5a) in 21 games.