REPORT: Milan Lucic's time as a Calgary Flame could be OVER

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Ryan
December 14, 2022 (1:02 PM)

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When Milan Lucic broke into the league with the Boston Bruins back in 2007, he quickly became one of the best and most feared power forwards in the league. The guy could beat you on the scoresheet and also beat you with his fists or a big hit into the boards. He was the prototypical 'Big Bad Bruin' and became one of those players that you were scared to play against but would love to have on your team.

Unfortuantely for Lucic though, since leaving Boston his career hasn't exactly gone as planned. He had a successful year in LA where he scored 20 goals and 55 points, then one good year in Edmonton scoring 20 goals and 50 points, but since that first season, it's been going downhill ever since.

Lucic had signed a 7 year deal with the Edmonton Oilers with an AAV of $6,000,000, and it's quickly become one of the worst contracts in the NHL.

After being traded to Calgary, he quickly took on the role of an enforcer instead of trying to provide offence like he did early in his career, but from the sounds of this, even the Flames are no longer in need of him as an enforcer and are deciding to move more towards youth skill and speed.

It was trending in that direction... I think the Flames are doing this, not so much to Lucic on purpose, but I think they want to see what they have in some of their kids.

I think they want to see what Zohorna and Phillips can do, whether Sutter is happy with it or not, but the one thing I had heard was they... made a commitment that... if they were going to try Phillips, they wanted to try him in a position where he might be able to score.

...the thing about Lucic is... he is a proud guy... Erik Karlsson said last week his career is not over... that is what I've heard about Lucic..

Elliotte Friedman on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast on Lucic being scratched: "It was trending in that direction... I think the Flames are doing this, not so much to Lucic on purpose, but I think they want to see what they have in some of their kids..."� Andrew Mangiapane is the best Breadman (@FieryBreadman) December 12, 2022

Lucic was recently scratched to give youngsters a chance to see what they could do. They recently called up Matthew Phillips after scoring 30 points in 20 AHL games and Lucic was the unfortunate one to come out of the lineup.

He definitely isn't the player he once was, and some teams would definitely still value what he brings to the table, but at his current cap hit, it's hard for the Flames to find a trade to take him on.

When Lucic hits free agency, he will definitely have some teams looking to bring him on as a 3rd line player, but right now he might continue to be a healthy scratch for the Flames.