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Milan Lucic

Snapshots: Lucic, Pinto, Woll, Kirsch

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With his time in St. Louis’ organization now over, veteran winger Milan Lucic is now looking to figure out his next step.  It appears that he has an offer on the table to play this season but he will have to travel to get that chance.  TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the veteran has an offer from a team in Scotland.  Lucic played in five games with AHL Springfield before being released a little more than a week ago and it seems unlikely that another playing opportunity in North America will materialize.  However, Dreger suggests that there could be an off-ice role available with an NHL team if he decides to jump right into his post-playing career but for now, he’ll need to decide how much he wants to keep playing and make a decision on the one offer he has.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • The Senators announced (Twitter link) that center Shane Pinto left tonight’s game with a lower-body injury. The injury was sustained in the opening period on a hit from Mika Zibanejad.  Even though his production has tapered off a bit as of late, the 25-year-old still leads Ottawa in goals with 12 in 27 games and came into the night averaging a career-high 19:30 per game of ice time.  An absence for him would be a big blow to their center depth.
  • The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Joseph Woll suffered a lower-body injury tonight against Carolina and did not return after playing the first two periods. Since returning from a leave of absence, Toronto has used Woll quite frequently, starting him in eight of nine games.  He has done rather well, too, posting a .919 SV% in those outings.  Anthony Stolarz has been out for nearly four weeks with an upper-body injury and hasn’t resumed skating so any absence for Woll would be problematic for a Toronto team that’s trying to recover from a tough start to the season.
  • Sharks prospect Christian Kirsch has decommitted from UMass and his recruitment process has reopened, reports Brad Elliott Schlossmann of the Grand Forks Herald (Twitter link). The 19-year-old was a fourth-round pick in 2024 and he spent last season in the USHL before coming to OHL Kitchener this season.  With them, he has a 2.54 GAA and a .900 SV% in 18 games.

Blues Release Milan Lucic From AHL Tryout

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Nov. 25: Lucic has now been released from his AHL tryout as well, the Blues announced. He had just one assist and posted a -7 rating through five games, likely limiting his interest elsewhere.

Nov. 4: The Blues have released left-winger Milan Lucic from his professional tryout, according to a team announcement. He’ll nonetheless remain in the organization for now and will report to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds, also in a tryout capacity.

Lucic, 37, landed a PTO with St. Louis all the way back in August and showed up for his first NHL training camp in two years. He skated in four preseason games for the Blues, recording a goal and an assist. He then sustained a lower-body injury that shut him down late in camp, removing any hope he had of converting his PTO into an opening night roster spot.

The Blues quietly kept extending Lucic’s PTO in 10-day increments – a new vehicle in the recent CBA extension – while he rehabbed his injury. Evidently, he’s now healthy. Even with the team’s 4-7-2 start to the season, though, they didn’t see enough out of him to warrant giving the 17-year veteran a look on the fourth line, at least not yet. Releasing him from his tryout does nothing to preclude the club from giving him a contract later if they like what they see during his return to action in Springfield.

If Lucic suits up for the Thunderbirds, it will be the first AHL action of his career. He made the transition straight from the WHL to the Bruins’ roster when he first broke into the NHL in 2007 as a 19-year-old. It will also be his first action of any kind in over two years. Lucic’s last appearance came for Boston on Oct. 21, 2023, his fourth of the young season. He then sustained an ankle injury and missed the rest of the season after entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program following an alleged domestic incident, although those charges were dropped.

Snapshots: Devils Reassignments, Sharks Injuries, Lucic

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The New Jersey Devils reassigned forwards Lenni Hameenaho and Shane Lachance to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets today. The move corresponded with the team’s signing of veteran Luke Glendening earlier today. Both Hameenaho and Lachance are young forwards who appear relatively close to being NHL-ready, if they have not reached that status already. Lachance in particular had a strong preseason, but it would be surprising if both do not see NHL time at some point this season.

Lachance, 22, was traded to the Devils in March as part of the larger Trent Frederic trade, and signed with the team shortly after at the conclusion of his NCAA career with Boston University. The 22-year-old is a 6’4 winger who scored 30 points in his final 40 games in college and had two points in a two-game cameo late last season with the Comets. Lachance is the son of Scott Lachance, who has been a member of the Devils’ hockey operations department since his retirement as a player (2007-08) and currently serves as the team’s director of amateur scouting. Hameenaho, 20, was the Devils’ top pick at the 2023 draft and had 51 points in 58 games for Liiga’s Assat Pori last season.

Some more notes from around the league:

  • A slate of injury updates was reported in San Jose today, with San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng reporting that two veteran defenders, Dmitry Orlov and John Klingberg, are dealing with upper-body injuries. Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka also reported that forward Egor Afanasyev and defenseman Jack Thompson are dealing with lower-body injuries and are both day-to-day. Peng added that both Orlov and Klingberg are expected to be ready to play in the team’s season-opening game on Thursday, but the same cannot be said about Afaneseyev and Thompson, as their availability for Thursday is unclear.
  • St. Louis Blues PTO signing Milan Lucic is currently dealing with a lower-body injury, and remains with the team as he works through his recovery, reports NHL.com’s Lou Korac. According to Korac, the Blues will extend Lucic’s PTO in 10-day increments as he works his way back into full health. While Lucic could still be a candidate to earn a full-time contract with the Blues, it is important to note that the 37-year-old winger has not only missed almost two full seasons of hockey, but also was not a particularly effective player even when he last played, nor did he have a notably strong preseason.

West Notes: Mammoth, Lucic, Klingberg, Kaprizov

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As is the case around many training camps, the Mammoth are dealing with a couple of injuries.  KSL Sports’ Cole Bagley notes (Twitter link) that winger JJ Peterka and defenseman Olli Maatta are both listed as out day-to-day but aren’t supposed to be out for long.  Peterka was Utah’s big offseason addition, coming over in a trade from Buffalo after putting up 27 goals and 41 assists in 77 games.  Meanwhile, Maatta was acquired in an early-season swap last year with the team dealing with injury woes on the back end and did well enough to earn himself a three-year, $10.5MM extension soon after.

More from out West:

  • The Blues expect winger Milan Lucic to be back to full practice on Monday, relays Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’s currently listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, a tough spot to be in for someone who is on a PTO in camp and is trying to make the team.  Lucic last played in 2023-24 (where he suited up just four times) and is hoping to land a spot on the fourth line in St. Louis.  He’ll need to get some more preseason action under his belt to have a shot at accomplishing that objective.
  • Sharks defenseman John Klingberg is expected to return to practice soon, reports Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link). The veteran has missed the last few days of camp due to an upper-body injury.  Klingberg inked a one-year, $4MM contract with San Jose early in free agency after playing well in limited action with Edmonton, including four points in 19 playoff games.  Generally a defenseman who can put up some offensive production, he’ll have a chance to do that on a Sharks back end that doesn’t have too many offensive threats as things stand.
  • Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov is dealing with an eye infection that will keep him out of the lineup, notes Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Head coach John Hynes noted that Kaprizov is already on antibiotics and that the hope is that he won’t miss much time.  The veteran was limited to just 41 games last season due to injuries although it didn’t stop him from declining what was reported to be the richest contract offer in NHL history earlier this offseason.

Injury Notes: Eller, Lucic, Zuccarello, Sturm

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Lars Eller told reporters today, including Bruce Garrioch of TSN, that he had abdominal surgery last July, from an ailment that had been lingering since last November. Despite the injury, the veteran center managed to skate in 80 regular season games between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, notching 22 points, subsequently earning a one-year, $1.25MM contract with the Ottawa Senators, his fifth NHL club.

As per Garrioch, there is yet to be a decision on when Eller will debut for the Sens, soon to add to his Danish-leading 1,116 career NHL regular season games, but it appears he is on the right track. 

Other injury updates from across the NHL:

  • St. Louis Blues Head Coach Jim Montgomery told reporters, including Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, that Milan Lucic is day-to-day with a groin injury. The former star is vying to extend his career, having missed the 2024-25 season before being signed to a professional tryout from the Blues on August 19, the latest of several past notable players to sign such tryouts with the organization. Lucic was unable to skate today, and as mentioned by Montgomery, the ailment is unfortunate timing as he fights to earn a spot.
  • Michael Russo of The Athletic noted a pair of back injuries affecting the Minnesota Wild. 38-year-old star Mats Zuccarello remains sidelined, and per Russo, there is no further update at this time. Previously, it has been raised that surgery is a possibility. Meanwhile, Nico Sturm, who signed a two-year deal to return to the Wild, will be held out for 4-5 days preemptively, due to a back injury sustained in a team scrimmage.

West Notes: Blues Forwards, Kraken Injuries, Dickinson

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While the NHL preseason is for most fans a low-stakes affair as the results of games don’t matter for the standings, they are often extremely high-stakes affairs for many of the players involved – many of whom are looking to secure a spot in the NHL for the upcoming season. The competition for limited roster spots is often fierce, and one of the fiercest appears to be playing out in St. Louis, where four forwards of varying experience and talent levels are competing for three roster spots. The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford indicated that PTO signee Milan Lucic, 2023 first-rounder Dalibor Dvorsky, and veterans Mathieu Joseph and Alexandre Texier are competing for a likely three roster spots between them.

Out of that group, the clear “odd one out” appears to be Lucic, who is playing in camp on a PTO. According to Rutherford, the Blues believe Lucic could help in a few specific areas they’d like to improve, namely “physicality and sticking up for teammates.” But Rutherford reports that Lucic’s start to camp has been “nondescript” and that those areas where he can make his mark aren’t really things that factor into a practice setting. With just four NHL games played since 2022-23, Lucic faces a steep uphill battle to win a roster spot, especially since Rutherford noted that two of his main competitors, Joseph and Texier, were “two of the more noticeable forwards” in the early portion of camp in St. Louis.

Some other notes from the Western Conference:

  • The Seattle Kraken issued injury updates to two players today: forward Jared McCann is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, while center Nathan Villeneuve will miss the rest of training camp with his own lower-body ailment. This development is particularly unfortunate for Villeneuve, 19, as he’s lost the ability to impress team brass in advance of his final season in the OHL. According to the Kraken’s official camp blog, Villeneuve “made a lasting impression” in last year’s preseason process before being cut, and now due to this injury he won’t have the opportunity to do that again in 2025. A 2024 second-round pick, Villeneuve scored 34 goals and 70 points in 57 games for the Sudbury Wolves last season.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks’ lineup plans for next season are beginning to take shape, and in particular it appears new head coach Jeff Blashill has firm plans for how he wants to deploy center Jason Dickinson in 2025-26. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that Blashill “thinks he can best utilize Dickinson as a third-line shutdown center,” adding that he plans on matching Dickinson’s line against opposing top lines. At the moment, Dickinson is centering veteran Ilya Mikheyev and 23-year-old Landon Slaggert, and if Blashill’s plans end up successful, the trio could be extremely helpful in taking some pressure off of top center and franchise face Connor Bedard. Dickinson enters 2025-26 as a pending UFA set to make $4.25MM against the cap.

Blues Sign Milan Lucic To Professional Tryout

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The Blues have signed left winger Milan Lucic to a professional tryout, the team announced.

Lucic, 37, last played in the NHL with the Bruins in October 2023. While on injured reserve for an ankle injury, he was arrested in November and charged with assault and battery for a domestic incident. Those charges were later dropped in February 2024, but he remained in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program throughout the season and did not return to Boston for the balance of the season and became an unrestricted free agent.

Late last offseason, Lucic expressed interest in making an NHL return but said he was still in the assistance program, making him ineligible to play until he was cleared by league medical staff. He was never suspended or disciplined by the league as a direct result of his charges. The Blues confirmed in their press release today that he has been cleared from the program and thus reinstated by the league.

While once one of the league’s top power forwards in his early days with Boston, Lucic took on bottom-six journeyman status as soon as he entered his 30s. The 6’3″, 240-lb lefty hasn’t had 30 points in a season since the 2017-18 campaign. In his last three seasons plus his four-game stint with the Bruins in 2023, he averaged 10 goals, 24 points, a -12 rating, and 198 hits per 82 games while averaging 12:16 of ice time per night. For his career, he’s got a 233-353–586 scoring line in 1,177 games.

The Blues haven’t had any major roster turnover at forward this offseason, and with Lucic not playing in nearly two years, he’s at best battling for a press-box role or a two-way deal out of the gate in camp. It’s unclear if he’d be willing to accept an AHL assignment if it helped facilitate an NHL return. The Vancouver native has never played in the minors – he jumped straight from juniors to Boston when he began his NHL career back in 2007.

Even then, it’s hard to see where he fits in if not in a minor-league role. St. Louis already has its bottom-six forward group filled out, plus two extras with Nick Bjugstad, Mathieu Joseph, Jake Neighbours, Oskar Sundqvist, Pius Suter, Alexandre Texier, Alexey Toropchenko, and Nathan Walker all relatively safe locks for spots. That doesn’t include much room for top prospect Dalibor Dvorsky to land a job, let alone a veteran reclamation project like Lucic.

Snapshots: Gustavsson, Flyers, Khaira

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After re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury and indicating that they’d like Jesper Wallstedt to see more NHL action in 2024-25, it looked as if Filip Gustavsson was set to be on the move this summer.  That hasn’t happened as of yet and Joe Smith of The Athletic notes (subscription link) that it appears that Gustavsson will now be sticking around, meaning that Minnesota will be juggling three goalies at times when they want Wallstedt to get a look.  Gustavsson is coming off a tough year, one that saw him post a 3.06 GAA with a .899 SV% in 45 games after putting up 2.10 and .931 respectively in 2022-23.  The Wild’s cap situation will make it tricky to carry three goalies; GM Bill Guerin acknowledged that Wallstedt could be in a “hybrid” situation that sees him spend time with Minnesota and AHL Iowa as a result.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • The Flyers have added a pair of prospects to their upcoming rookie camp roster. Jonathan Bailey of Philly Hockey Now relays that goaltender Sam Hillebrandt and forward Josh Zakreski will join them in September.  Hillebrandt had a 3.67 GAA with a .899 SV% in 36 games last season with OHL Barrie while serving as the third goalie for Team USA at the World Juniors.  Zakreski, meanwhile, is their lone undrafted invitee from July’s development camp to move on to rookie camp so far.  He had 21 goals and 28 assists in 68 games in 2023-24 with WHL Portland.
  • Unrestricted free agent forward Jujhar Khaira was on Vancouver’s radar for the PTO slot that went to Sammy Blais earlier this week, report Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic (subscription link). The 30-year-old is a veteran of 337 career NHL games but only one of those came last season as he spent most of the season with AHL Iowa where he had 18 points in 22 games.  Drance and Dhaliwal add that the Canucks have not shown interest in Nick Cousins or Milan Lucic who are also looking for a new place to play for the upcoming season.

Milan Lucic Hopes To Return To NHL, Still In Player Assistance Program

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Former Bruins forward Milan Lucic has been training this summer and hopes to return to the NHL, reports Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Lucic has not played since being arrested for a domestic incident last November that resulted in assault and battery charges. Those charges were dropped in February after his wife declined to testify against him, but the Bruins said that he would remain on an indefinite leave of absence for the remainder of the campaign.

Lucic has not officially been suspended from league play by commissioner Gary Bettman, Seravalli clarifies, but notes that the league still needs to clear him to play since he entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program following his arrest. League doctors have not yet cleared him to exit the program.

Unlike other North American professional sports leagues, the NHL has no dedicated domestic violence policy. As things stand, with no suspension from the league, Lucic would be eligible to sign with any team if he’s cleared from the program.

The 36-year-old, who was a second-round pick of the Bruins and played for them through the 2014-15 season, signed a one-year contract to return to Boston last summer. He became an unrestricted free agent last month after playing just four games in 2023-24.

Milan Lucic Won’t Return To Bruins This Season

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While domestic violence charges were dropped against Bruins winger Milan Lucic earlier today, don’t expect to see him back in a Boston uniform in 2023-24.  Following the news of the charges being dropped, the team released a statement to reporters including Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald that the veteran won’t return this season:

Milan Lucic will remain on indefinite leave from the organization for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. The Boston Bruins organization supports Milan and his family as he continues his personal rehabilitation.

Lucic signed a one-year contract with Boston back in July, a deal which carried a $1MM cap hit and salary plus another $500K in undisclosed performance bonuses.  He will once again be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

At the time of his arrest back in November, Lucic was on LTIR and he entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program soon after.  Accordingly, the Bruins will be allowed to keep him on LTIR and exceed the salary cap by up to $1MM for the remainder of the season.

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