Milan Lucic, intrigued by front-office possibilities, turns page quickly from player to pro scout

Milan Lucic, back in North America only a couple of weeks after finishing up his playing career with a final twirl with the Fife Flyers in Scotland, officially entered phase two of his hockey career last week, signing on as a pro scout with the Sabres.

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Twenty years after being drafted by the Bruins, “Looch” is headed back to the rinks, his eye trained not on the net or landing his trademark crushing body slams along the boards, but on helping a chief Atlantic Division rival build up a database on NHLers and minor pros.

The unknown of the path ahead, noted the former star left winger, is part of what intrigues him.

“All we can do is control the present,” said Lucic, speaking by phone as he sorted out his family’s plans, including settling into a permanent home out west. “We’ll see how much I enjoy it. Obviously, it would be great to be a GM or something one day, but right now, without even starting the job yet, it’s focus on the present, find what works for me and my family.”

Lucic, his wife, and three kids all remain together in the wake of the domestic violence episode in the autumn of 2023 in Boston that strained his marriage and ended his NHL playing career. His wife Brittany ultimately chose not to testify against Lucic, resulting in charges being dismissed.

With the help of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, he regained sobriety, attempted his playing comeback last season at age 37, and now looks ahead to a life watching the game from far above the surface.

“Having a supportive wife who helped me through it, supported me through it and pushed me in a good way … that helped it all,” mused Lucic. “I’m thankful that things are better than ever as a family — as a husband and a father. Everything, I guess, happens for a reason, and something’s that really great is that she didn’t punish me. She helped me through it. That’s a really great part.”

His months-long stay in Fife also added some perspective. Lucic went there late last year after the Blues released him from a brief AHL stint in Springfield, thinking perhaps the UK’s EIHL was a way to land another NHL playing contract.

In fairly short order, no doubt with the coaxing of some 16-hour roundtrip bus rides on game days, he realized he no longer had the physical or psychological will.

“It had nothing to do with the team or my teammates, coaches, the staff, the fans, or anything. It just felt like it wasn’t as much fun going to the rink as it used to be,“ he said. ”I mean, that’s why Father Time is undefeated, right? Unless you’re Zdeno [Chara] who plays ‘til he’s 45, or Tom Brady — some of the best in their positions to do it as long as they did. But Father Time catches up to everyone. I’m just happy and grateful that I got to do what I did as long as I did.”

The career line on the menacing Lucic: 1,177 regular-season games, 233 goals, 586 points, 1,301 penalty minutes, and that Stanley Cup ring in the spring of 2011 with the Bruins. He was dealt in the summer of 2015, then newly anointed general manager Don Sweeney in a scramble to find payroll relief and add speed — elements in play here in perpetuity.

It was the following summer, as he became an unrestricted free agent, that ended up being Lucic’s first step toward his scouting gig. He ultimately signed the richest deal of his career — seven years, $42 million — in Edmonton, where ex-Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli was the new boss.

According to Lucic, he turned down an even richer deal that July, placed on the table by then Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin. With the mere stroke of a pen, the then 28-year-old Lucic could have signed on for a long stay just 300 miles to the north, suiting up on the other side of the decades-long, oft-tempestuous Boston-Montreal rivalry. (Beat man’s aside: Why, why, why can we not … have … nice … things?!)

“They’d made the trade for [Shea] Weber, I knew Carey Price a little bit, and obviously, I had a really good relationship with Brendan Gallagher,” said Lucic, recalling the enticements of that 2016 Habs roster. “I thought long and hard about joining them … Western Leaguers, all of them, you know?”

In the end, said Lucic, he simply couldn’t bear the thought of being on that other side.

“I just couldn’t see myself pulling on that Habs jersey,“ he said. ”That’s nothing against the Habs, you know, one of the greatest, if not the most historic, organizations in the league. And I love playing for an Original Six team, but at the end of the day, it was the rivalry, and I guess my loyalty to the Bruins.”

Lucic and Bergevin remained in contact over the ensuing 10 years. Dismissed as Montreal general manager in November 2021, Bergevin was hired in Buffalo amid the front office changeover that began there in December of this past season. Bergevin is now GM Jarmo Kekäläinen’s associate.

As Lucic was coming to the realization in Scotland his playing days were at an end, he reconnected with Bergevin, ultimately leading to the job offer as a scout.

“It was really funny,” Lucic recalled. “He brought it up and I said, ‘Oh, I still want to play.’ That was my first response. Then kind of halfway through me being in Scotland, I started to realize that, you know, maybe I’m done playing, and the conversation picked up again from there.”

As the weekend approached, Lucic said he remained uncertain about where he and the family will make their new home. An obvious top contender is Vancouver, British Columbia, where he grew up and where he and his wife still have lots of extended family and friends.

He’s certain to be back this way from time to time, because Lucic said he’s already told the Bruins alumni team he intends to pull on that familiar Black and Gold sweater for their charity games — none of those planned to be played in Montreal any time soon.

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During his zoom session with Detroit media upon signing as an unrestricted free agent Wednesday with the Red Wings, Viktor Arvidsson confirmed the immediate suspicion here that reuniting with coach Todd McLellan was a large part of the allure in joining the Winged Wheels.

“I really like playing under Todd,” noted Arvidsson, who played three seasons for the Kings with McLellan as the bench boss. “It was an easy decision.”

Arvidsson, who turned 33 in April, signed a two-year deal with a $5 million average annual value, a $1 million per year boost over the deal the winger brought to Boston from Edmonton. Detroit will be his third port of call in three seasons.

Compared to a number of deals signed over recent days, pre- and post-July 1 free agency, Arvidsson’s salary looks middle-of-the-road to modest. He ran hot for the Bruins in the second half last season, finished with 25 goals, and would have been a comfortable payroll fit for the Bruins for a $5 million annual renewal.

Per Sweeney, talks with Arvidsson diminished considerably once the Bruins surrendered a pair of Round 1 draft picks for winger JJ Peterka, adding a $7.7 million AAV to the books. Sweeney last weekend told me acquiring Peterka did not preclude bringing Arvidsson back, but he changed that tune by Wednesday evening. Available dollars grew thin, said the GM.

Arvidsson, who found a perfect running mate/distributor in Bruins center Pavel Zacha, now possibly will ride on a line with speedy Dylan Larkin, provided Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman opts not to honor the captain’s standing trade request. The chances of Stevie Y accommodating him will grow considerably, in theory, if Larkin expands the list of cities he’d be willing to accept a move to in a swap.

“We meshed together really well,” Arvidsson told Detroit media, referring to his chemistry with Zacha, who had Casey Mittelstadt to his left.

As the holiday weekend commenced, Larkin, 29, remained on the Red Wings’ books for four more years at $8.7 million per season. Following the roster resets that occurred Wednesday, clubs with sincere interest in Larkin could be fewer, by virtue of their salary cap space diminishing via free agent hires.

In his first two years under McLellan’s tutelage, Arvidsson averaged 23 goals. He was on pace for slightly more his last season in Los Angeles, but injury limited him to 18 games.

He sees “a little bit of old school” in McLellan’s approach.

“He’s really structured,” added Arvidsson, speaking from his offseason home in Sweden, “and always has a plan.”

Peterka was home in Munich last weekend when he chatted via teleconference with Boston media.

When asked his go-to food choice upon returning home after a season shuffling around 32 North American cities, he said: “Schnitzel. I like a good schnitzel — especially in Germany.”

For those in need of some culinary coaching up, schnitzel is a thin slice of meat (veal, pork, chicken etc.) coated in a batter and fried. No ketchup allowed. Fries optional.

Bruins coach Marco Sturm, when asked the same “foodie” question during his stop at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton a couple of days earlier, identified pretzels as his No. 1 food choice once returning to Deutschland.

“Best with some mustard,” he said.

All of the Sturms, family of four (Marco, wife Astrid, son Mason and daughter Kaydie), will head to Dingolfing (Marco’s hometown in Bavaria) for a month-long vacation this summer.

“The first question the kids ask is, ‘OK, how long?’ ” said a smiling Sturm, noting that Mason and Kaydie have good friends in Florida and Boston, which can make their time in Europe feel like an eternity. “We think it’s important for them to spend time there.”

Mason and Kaydie, though born in North America, speak both English and German. Mason is a rising junior at Bowdoin and Kaydie a rising sophomore at UMass Boston.

According to a proud dad, Mason also speaks Mandarin, a language he took up in school during the family’s brief time in Vancouver at the start of the 2011-12 season. When Marco was traded to the Panthers in October 2011, the kids ultimately resumed school in Broward County, Fla., where Mason continued his Mandarin studies.

“So much easier for young kids to get it, right?” noted Marco. “His German is perfect, and his Mandarin is really good.”

After telling Rangers fans in January it was time for yet another roster reset, New York made budding superstar Pavel Dorofeyev the center of that overhaul. Dorofeyev, with 37 goals last season, was deemed pricey, redundant baggage in that superstar-laden Golden Knights lineup. The Rangers are hoping that he is the Artemi Panarin equivalent of the overhaul, and they rolled out the cash (seven years/$77 million) in lockstep with the aspiration. GM Chris Drury also dealt off veteran pivot Vincent Trocheck to acquire defenseman Sean Durzi ($6 million AAV) from the Mammoth — part of the backline rework that enabled the Rangers to ship Will Borgen, another right-shot blue liner, to the Bruins … The long weekend kicked off with a dozen or more high-profile free agents, most in the 30-plus age bracket, yet to find UFA landing spots. The one to catch my eye, yet again, was winger Patrick Kane, whose roster spot in Detroit, his home the last three seasons, belongs to Arvidsson. Kane will be 38 in November and his production last season dipped to 16-41–57 (3 points ahead of Arvidsson, by the way). Last season, Kane made $3 million. Per puckpedia.com calculations, the Bruins have $5.4 million in elbow room, which should be enough to offer Kane something close to what he made last season with a Red Wings club that missed the postseason for a 10th consecutive time. Still some murmurings around the Sabres that Kane could be headed to his hometown Buffalo for his career swan song. The surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer has 508 career goals and 1,400 points. Still electrifying in small bursts, Kane has appeared in but 16 playoff games the last 10 seasons … Defenseman Connor Clifton wasn’t calculating a Boston redux when he agreed earlier in the offseason to rent the downtown condo he still owns to Bruins winger Alex Steeves for the upcoming season. “Cliffy” now has to find new digs for three, including wife and young child … Bruins short-timer Erik Haula this fall will be pulling on the eighth NHL sweater of his long (840 games) career. The forward landed a two-year, $7.2 million deal with the Kings, adding the crown sweater to his other threads from the Wild, Golden Knights, Hurricanes, Panthers, Predators, Bruins, and Devils. Haula remains an effective faceoff performer, which was what led then Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald to bring him to Newark in July 2022 in the one-for-one swap for Zacha … Newly acquired Joonas Korpisalo should be Igor Shesterkin’s backup with the Rangers. If it’s not the ex-Bruin, New York will look to deal out “Korpy” and promote Dylan Garand, a 2020 draft pick (No. 103) who has toiled the last four seasons with AHL Hartford … We noted during the week the Bruins might consider taking a stab at adding a low-cost veteran NHL stopper for insurance, in case the Michael DiPietro promotion proves premature. Potential candidate: Cam Talbot, 38, who appeared in 81 games for the Red Wings over the last two years … Nice late-career haul for former Bruins forward Jeffrey Viel, whose playoff work with Anaheim caught the eye of the Lightning and landed him a five-year, $12.5 million guarantee. It took Viel, 29, seven years of pounding his way though the minors to land his first big pay day. He’ll earn his pay, maybe at the rate of a buck a stitch, when Tampa Bay squares off with those cross-state Panthers ruffians.

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