After being traded to the Calgary Flames, Milan Lucic is free of expectations and gets a much-needed reset.
The Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames don’t share a big history of trading players, but with both teams desperate for change, the unthinkable happened. On Friday the 19th, the Flames traded James Neal to the Oilers in exchange for former Stanley Cup champion Milan Lucic, as well as a conditional third-round pick in the 2020 NHL draft. Edmonton will also eat up 12.5% of Lucic’s remaining contract.
For Neal, his time with the Flames was very short-lived. He played just one season in Calgary. After coming off a career-worst season, putting up just 7 goals and 12 assists on mainly the third line, Flames general manager Brad Treliving wanted to swing a deal.
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Not everyone can justify why Treliving and Oilers general manager Ken Holland would want to swap two players coming off their worst seasons in the NHL, but Treliving feels a change of scenery is all it will take for Lucic to find his game again.
Treliving said the following to the media.
"“This gives him a fresh start, and I think there is a lot of players that go through this in their careers, where you know, it’s time for a fresh start. A little bit of a reboot. New surroundings and new energy.”"
Lucic will find himself in new surroundings and new energy. What Calgary lacked in the 2019 postseason was the ability to shut players down physically. Lucic adds a lot of depth in terms of punishing the opponents.
His size plays a big part of that too. Lucic is 6’3”and 231 pounds. It’s devastating for players who are on the receiving end of his hits. In his 12-year career, he’s played 890 games, scoring 198 goals and adding 303 assists, to equal 501 points. What’s also crazy is the number of hits he’s produced. In those 890 games, he’s totaled 2,539 hits.
Yes, Lucic had a rough final year in Edmonton, but in the 2017-18 season, he managed to put up 34 points. The season before that he hit the 50-point margin. He still has lots of game left inside of him.
Lucic enters his first season with the Flames at the age of 31, where he will likely be put on the third line with Sam Bennett and Mark Jankowski, two young players who could really benefit from the leadership that a former Stanley Cup champ can bring.
He also allows the Flames to play without fear. It seemed like in the playoffs, the Flames didn’t have confidence. Lucic holds his opponents accountable. If he sees his teammate take a hit he doesn’t like, he’ll be sure to step in.
Lucic spent some time playing with Connor McDavid on Edmonton’s top line, so he knows how to protect the all-star players. He can also chip in offensively if he’s paired with the right linemates. I’m not sure if Flames coach Bill Peters will be quick to try and put Lucic on a line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, but both Gaudreau and Monahan would certainly have a lot more space and protection, and veteran leadership certainly never hurts either.
Although the fans expectations aren’t very high at this point for Lucic, he knows what he has to do to be successful in Calgary. Be a big body presence, protect his teammates whenever necessary, pitch in on the points side of things, and be tough to play against defensively.
Flames fans have been waiting very patiently for their team to go on another deep playoff run, but without a big name enforcer, the team hasn’t found success in the playoffs in recent years. With a player like Lucic in the lineup though, things just got one heck of a lot more interesting. Sometimes all a player truly needs is a shakeup. Lucic will certainly have big expectations for himself as he looks to play some meaningful games in his new threads.