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It’s not often a great general manager like Dean Lombardi gets bamboozled in a trade, but that could exactly be the case when his Los Angeles Kings landed power forward Milan Lucic from the Boston Bruins. Giving up prospect Colin Miller, rising backup goalie Martin Jones and a precious first-round pick for the left wing in the last year of a contract that will pay him $6 million this season is preposterous. With the Kings now without 2015 and 2016 first-round picks, it’ll really be an “all-in” season for the squad
I will say I’m intrigued by Lucic playing on a line with Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik as the line is very similar to the one he played on in Boston in 2008-09 with playmaker Marc Savard and speedster Phil Kessel. Lucic’s 235-pound frame could really open things up for his more skilled teammates, but at $6 million per year, the team needs more than a guy to “open things up.” I’ve seen enough of Lucic’s hot-and-cold act in Boston over the past few years to know for every big game he has, there’s two or three where he might as well be wearing an invisibility cloak.
Lucic’s future in Los Angeles beyond this season is a massive unknown too. While Lombardi said the Kings’ culture has led to several players taking less money to stick around — namely Marian Gaborik — there’s no guarantees, especially with a player like Lucic. Next July, when Lucic could become a free agent, he’ll be 28 years old, making him a power forward in his prime that, for all his faults, has a unique skill set that teams salivate over. There’s no doubt in my mind a team will offer Lucic $7 million per year. Why would he leave that kind of money on the table when he already has a Stanley Cup ring and wants that one big contract to carry him for the rest of his career?
It’s worth noting Lombardi coveted Lucic going into the 2006 Draft, before eventually passing on him for Joey Ryan, who never skated a shift in the NHL — a decision that no doubt haunts him to this day. Giving up the sheer number of assets that he did to essentially play out a hypothetical situation from almost a decade ago is downright laughable.
The Kings better hope their streak of winning the Stanley Cup in even years continues in 2016. Otherwise, they may have thrown hopes of long-term contention out the window in one move.
