News Article: Fluto: Milan Lucic’s fate is a tricky call for Bruins GM Don Sweeney

[Fenway]

I agree this is the biggest question mark the team faces this summer.

FLUTO SHINZAWA | ON HOCKEY
Milan Lucic’s fate is a tricky call for Bruins GM Don Sweeney

Milan Lucic is in the last year of a deal that averages $6 million annually. It is a high sum for a player for whom 18 goals and 26 assists was considered a disappointment. Sweeney does not want to play limbo too closely under the ceiling, which is projected to be approximately $70 million next year. Trading the 26-year-old winger with cap relief as an objective would help Sweeney gain breathing room.

“We have some challenges,†Sweeney acknowledged. “We have some flexibility issues that we have to get back out in front of and that we have to address head-on.â€

Moving Lucic, however, would mean losing the NHL’s signature power forward. If he and David Krejci stay healthy, Lucic’s presence and production will grow next year. Trading Lucic would not necessarily improve the team in 2015-16.

Determining Lucic’s future is one of Sweeney’s most immediate decisions. It is also one of his hardest.

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[MattFromFranklin]

Lose-lose. Trade him and become softer, or give him an asinine contract (6-7 years) that will bite the team by year 3.

 

[norwoodmustang]

Any chance of a smaller contract with incentive bonuses? Similar to what they did with Iggy. Maybe $5 million base pay snd bonuses for 20 goals/60 points?

 

[Mione134]

Did Fluto even read Sweeney's statement about Lucic yesterday? Or...

 

[KnightofBoston]

Lose-lose. Trade him and become softer, or give him an asinine contract (6-7 years) that will bite the team by year 3.

If it's only by year 3 then he's still tradeable and we got two good years out of him


Trade him to edmonton for nurse and Yakupov

 

[Three Dog]

The part I'm not sure I understand, is the common opinion of "Lucic needs to be one of Sweeneys immediate decisions". ....why?

He has another year on his contract, we have too many centre ice men, cap issues, potential coaching/system issues to iron out, the upcoming draft, free agency, Mcquaid (whos contract is up), Hamilton to consider, Soderberg, etc. ....

Personally I look at it in rough groupings as to who's in line to move or make decisions on.

Hamilton can't go

Group A: Soderberg, Kelly, McQuaid, Smith
(deal/sign, keep, or dismiss)

Group B: Seids, Eriksson, Krejci, goalie prospects, etc
(pieces you may move for cap space, or pieces you may include in deals)


I'm sure I'm forgetting things here, but Lucic I would consider bottom end of group B.... (if i considered moving him at all, which I wouldnt)

But why is a choice surrounding him considered such a big panic? ...I'm guessing the answer is that my grouping views arent the way a lot of others see it

 

[Latrappe]

Lose-lose. Trade him and become softer, or give him an asinine contract (6-7 years) that will bite the team by year 3.

Gimme a break. We were soft last season and Lucic was on our team. Sweeney need to trade him and get the max value. People should stop ignoring the fact that the team is in a cap hell. We have to create flexibility and Lucic is a great starting point.

 

[MattFromFranklin]

Gimme a break. We were soft last season and Lucic was on our team. Sweeney need to trade him and get the max value. People should stop ignoring the fact that the team is in a cap hell. We have to create flexibility and Lucic is a great starting point.

I meant from management's point of view, given their comments. Should have said that in my previous post. If it were up to me, I'd trade him this summer. Although he's a good player, he is vastly overrated around here and his next contract will be a disaster. I want no part of that. He and his agent aren't going to settle for another 3 year contract. They're going to ask for 6-7 years at $6-7 million per. And I wouldn't blame them, especially when you consider the rising cap and some of the joke contracts around the league. They WILL get that contract from some team on the open market. I just hope it isn't the Bruins.

 

[KrejciMVP]

I really don't think he is worth more than 5 mill at this point, doesn't light the lamp as much as a 6+mill player should and is physicality neutralized by the refs.

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Sweeney trades Marchand and he doesn't have a tricky call to make anymore.

 

[qc]

Any chance of a smaller contract with incentive bonuses? Similar to what they did with Iggy. Maybe $5 million base pay snd bonuses for 20 goals/60 points?

I don't see it. He's 28 and has one last shot at a long-term deal. Something tells me there are some teams out there willing to go 6 years $6m at the very least.

 

[Man Rocket]

My approach on Lucic:

- Dangle him this summer, only trade him if it's a great return (aka clear win in the trade). preferably out west or out of the atlantic.

- If there's nothing enticing this summer or at the draft, let him play the season. Again dangling him at the trade deadline, if there is nothing great then gamble and play out the season from him.

- I am NOT trading him for spare parts again (Seguin) I'd rather take my chances signing him next summer. Maybe he gives you great production in a contract year and helps the team go far in the postseason


The type of return im looking for is high picks and prospects. maybe a good roster added to that if hes cheap

ex: top 10 pick in this years draft, Nick Ritchie + 1st from ANA etc

 

[OutspokenMinority*]

Don Sweeney's Roadmap

i hear 6 years / 24 million for Dougie (ie. i just saw the bloated one say so on csn)? done and done. add a 7th if you like. perhaps an 8th as a club option. at that amount, you sign that player for as long as you are able.

as for the big three: lucic needs to go. chara needs to go. seidenberg needs to go.

although all could be valuable deadline moves for a contender looking for depth, assuming they play respectably, keeping them would probably keep you in playoff contention again, which means you'll be buying instead of selling.

the boychuk timing looks bad in retrospect, but that's almost entirely because of the long-term injuries to Chara and Miller (to focus only on the D injuries). i think if you are really going to remake the team for the long term you should create the cap flexibility as quickly as possible. maybe keep seidenberg or the like until the deadline because they should be easy to move.

don sweeney should look to revamp/rebuild aggressively, immediately, giving himself the chance to put a plan together and execute, rather than going through 3 years of bubble gum and tape before being fired through no fault of his own for general team mediocrity.

i feel bad for bergy that he will have to deal with a rebuild process, but it should give him the best chance to win one or two more Cups as a Bruin.

let don sweeney act as he sees fit, outside the box when he sees fit, so that no one has any built-in excuses if things go sour.

now i expect almost none of this to happen. i expect chara to be here through his career barring a catastrophic collapse and/or a continuation of the current non-playoff-making streak. i expect lucic to play out the string and then walk to the Rangers for astronomical dollah dollah billss, i expect chara to continue to be the most best pulluper on the team, and i expect them to be mediocre in the process.

i close this post with a classic ascii blank stare.

:-|

 

[Man Rocket]

]i hear 6 years / 24 million for Dougie (ie. i just saw the bloated one say so on csn)? done and done[/B]. add a 7th if you like. perhaps an 8th as a club option. at that amount, you sign that player for as long as you are able.

as for the big three: lucic needs to go. chara needs to go. seidenberg needs to go.

although all could be valuable deadline moves for a contender looking for depth, assuming they play respectably, keeping them would probably keep you in playoff contention again, which means you'll be buying instead of selling.

the boychuk timing looks bad in retrospect, but that's almost entirely because of the long-term injuries to Chara and Miller (to focus only on the D injuries). i think if you are really going to remake the team for the long term you should create the cap flexibility as quickly as possible. maybe keep seidenberg or the like until the deadline because they should be easy to move.

don sweeney should look to revamp/rebuild aggressively, immediately, giving himself the chance to put a plan together and execute, rather than going through 3 years of bubble gum and tape before being fired through no fault of his own for general team mediocrity.

i feel bad for bergy that he will have to deal with a rebuild process, but it should give him the best chance to win one or two more Cups as a Bruin.

let don sweeney act as he sees fit, outside the box when he sees fit, so that no one has any built-in excuses if things go sour.

now i expect almost none of this to happen. i expect chara to be here through his career barring a catastrophic collapse and/or a continuation of the current non-playoff-making streak. i expect lucic to play out the string and then walk to the Rangers for astronomical dollah dollah billss, i expect chara to continue to be the most best pulluper on the team, and i expect them to be mediocre in the process.

i close this post with a classic ascii blank stare.

:-|

This would be phenomenal (clone of Brodin's deal?) I have a feeling he may do the 2 year bridge so he gets a massive payday in 2017 though.

I don't think those guys you listed NEED to go, but if you get a great return then I would seriously listen. Chara will not waive IMO unless its a bonafide contender

 

[Latrappe]

i hear 6 years / 24 million for Dougie (ie. i just saw the bloated one say so on csn)? done and done. add a 7th if you like. perhaps an 8th as a club option. at that amount, you sign that player for as long as you are able.

as for the big three: lucic needs to go. chara needs to go. seidenberg needs to go.

although all could be valuable deadline moves for a contender looking for depth, assuming they play respectably, keeping them would probably keep you in playoff contention again, which means you'll be buying instead of selling.

the boychuk timing looks bad in retrospect, but that's almost entirely because of the long-term injuries to Chara and Miller (to focus only on the D injuries). i think if you are really going to remake the team for the long term you should create the cap flexibility as quickly as possible. maybe keep seidenberg or the like until the deadline because they should be easy to move.

don sweeney should look to revamp/rebuild aggressively, immediately, giving himself the chance to put a plan together and execute, rather than going through 3 years of bubble gum and tape before being fired through no fault of his own for general team mediocrity.

i feel bad for bergy that he will have to deal with a rebuild process, but it should give him the best chance to win one or two more Cups as a Bruin.

let don sweeney act as he sees fit, outside the box when he sees fit, so that no one has any built-in excuses if things go sour.

now i expect almost none of this to happen. i expect chara to be here through his career barring a catastrophic collapse and/or a continuation of the current non-playoff-making streak. i expect lucic to play out the string and then walk to the Rangers for astronomical dollah dollah billss, i expect chara to continue to be the most best pulluper on the team, and i expect them to be mediocre in the process.

i close this post with a classic ascii blank stare.

:-|

Not sure you can trade both Chara and Seidenberg without having a strong plan B in the fold. Since the Bruins doesn't depth at D and that Top 4 D-man will come at a premium, you have to settle for trading one of the two. To me, Chara will be ok with a reduced workload. Seindenberg would be the one that I would try to trade but... Last season hurt his value and i'm pretty sure that the Bruins would have to eat some salary in order to trade him. In an ideal world, the Bruins would try to trade without having to pay a portion of Seinderberg's salary.

 

[ap3lovr]

Lose-lose. Trade him and become softer, or give him an asinine contract (6-7 years) that will bite the team by year 3.

I wanted him gone before the end of last season. Those types of players break down over time. He has stupidly high value for the player he actually is. If you want to sell high on an asset, Lucic is it.

 

[RedeyeRocketeer]

Sweeney trades Marchand and he doesn't have a tricky call to make anymore.

How do you figure? A bad contract is a bad contract regardless of the circumstances it was made in. Lucic at 7m for 6 years is going to look bad in 3 years regardless of the situation we're in this year making the deal. Remember Kelly's money is going to be gone when Lucic is up for a new deal. We will have the money to make it happen then. The question is more about how bad it may become.

 

[patty59]

It would end up worse than the Boychuk trade and that went over like a lead ballon here.

 

[DKH]

I will be shocked if Lucic is traded.

 

[rudos1]

Unless they can get Hall or a 30-40 goal type of scorer for him he stays, plays out his last year on his contract and hope he brings his A game to get a big payday as Rask did a couple years ago. Do we resign him at that point? Depends on SO MANY FACTORS!

 

[OldScool]

I don't think this is a tricky call at all for Sweeney - you without a doubt trade Lucic this offseason. No way does Lucic sign for less money and rumors of $8m a year is laughable (Sidney Crosby makes $8.7M in reference). Lucic is a $4m a year player and todays cap ruled game is about value/salary and Lucic is an awful value for his salary. Enough with the intimidation, etc he supposedly brings - that is gone - players laugh in his face now. Sweeney should move Lucic for the best package he can get.

 

[Scotto74]

I will be shocked if Lucic is traded.

same. Only way I see him going is if he comes in this year with his head not in the right place like he said was his problem last year. Then I see him going at the deadline.

 

[KrejciMVP]

The moment Lucic shows one bit of physicality he is thrown in the penalty box (especially in MTL), in today's NHL which is turning into a non fighting sport Lucic isn't worth his price tag. He is not worth 6mill based on his offensive skills

 

[OldScool]

same. Only way I see him going is if he comes in this year with his head not in the right place like he said was his problem last year. Then I see him going at the deadline.

“At the start [of this season] I was overly conscious about [playing with an edge] because there was a lot being said about me with how last year ended. It was hard on me at the start. I shouldn’t have let it be as hard on me as it was. I was mad. I was angry. I was bitter that we lost…everything just piled up into one big thing, and it took me too long to get over it.â€

The definition of mentally weak. Thanks for your time here Milan.

 

[bruinmann77]

they need to sign Doug with question.
I think you have to at least put Lucic out there even to gage what kind of return you cane get back.