CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

If they could redo the 2006 Draft tomorrow, Milan Lucic would be selected in the top 5 – not 50th, and definitely not 94th -  where he was ranked 2 1/2 years ago.

Lucic had played only one year of Major Junior when he was drafted. And his numbers for the 2005-06 season weren’t that awe inspiring.

But, the following numbers opened some eyes – 21 fights in 62 games:

Looking at his potential, the central scouting people ranked him 94th overall, and Lucic expected to be selected somewhere in the 3rd Round.

courtesy of hockeysfuture.com

At the draft, Kirk Luedeke of the New England Hockey Journal wrote: “Scouts are almost unanimous in their praise of Lucic, who plays a high-energy, yet disciplined game on the ice. He loves to hit opponents hard and often, and relishes any challenge to drop the gloves and fight for his teammates. Unlike some one-dimensional enforcer types who lose sight of what is most important in hockey, Lucic doesn’t kill his club with a lot of bad penalties … Lucic is a prized hockey commodity for any era: he plays a powerful, physical game with a mean streak, but also has the skill and intelligence to skate a regular shift. He can beat opponents with his fists one minute, but is involved in his club’s offense the next.”

Vancouver Giants’ head coach Don Hay was quick to point out Lucic’s leadership: “I think what he really does is establishes our team’s work ethic. He pushes everyone else to work as hard as him, and has the capability to go up against anyone when he has to … He’s a capable skater at this level, but to get to the NHL, he’s going to have to push it up. One thing he does that he doesn’t get enough credit for is that he’s able to make quick decisions in tight spaces. His hockey sense is one of his best attributes.”

Lucic adds: “… I’ve got to focus on my skating and get it to where it needs to be so I can have a shot at being a successful pro player with the Bruins … Before, they had the reputation of being the Big, Bad Bruins, players like Cam Neely had the skill, but he beat the crap out of people and finished his checks too. They’ve always had guys who can do that and play that style of hockey. That’s why I’m excited to go in there, get in the face of someone, and make a big impression.”

Boston had an extra second round pick that 2006 draft and used it to select Lucic. On March 9th, they had sent Sergei Samsonov to Edomonton for Marty Reasoner, Yan Stastny and their 2nd selection.

Lucic had been ranked 98th, and Boston had the 71st overall pick, but they weren’t going to take any chances and grabbed him 44 picks higher than his ranking.

“He’s a unique player that I think does a lot of the little things right,” Boston’s amateur scouting chief Scott Bradley said. “His hockey sense is a lot better than a lot of people think and he’s the type of player that’s going to go through the wall for you.”

Bradley is based out of Vancouver, and had seen Lucic play many games while he was evaluating the visiting talent.

“Milan’s going to be a player,”  he added. “He knows what he needs to work on, but he’s got such good hockey sense and the work ethic to go with it….”
“B’s fans will probably have to wait a bit before Lucic is ready to make the Boston roster,” Kirk Luedeke added. “But, they’ll be happy to know he’s already working on his conditioning to prepare for camp and is looking ahead to September, when the faithful will catch their first glimpse of someone who could be a quick fan favorite.”

Lucic, of course, made the Bruins’ squad three months later and became a real “fan favourite.”

Which brings us to the question: Why didn’t Vancouver draft Milan Lucic?

Dave Nonis had been Vancouver’s GM during the 2004-05 lockout season, and had participated in the 2005 Entry Draft. He hadn’t, however, been involved in the trading deadline frenzy before, and was thus cautious.

As a result, he made only a series of minor trades.

He gave a 4th round pick to the Devils for Sean Brown, and a 3rd round pick and Tomas Mojzis to St. Louis for Eric Weinrich. The Canucks had been given a 3rd round pick by the Islanders for Brent Sopel, and they traded it to the Blackhawks for Steve McCarthy – and then dumped him half a year later for a 7th round pick from Atlanta.

Vancouver also had two 2nd round picks which they literally gave away.

One went to the Sabres for goalie, Mika Noronen – who would play only 4 games for the Canucks before going to Russia – and one, with Brent Skinner, for Keith Carney and Juha Alen. Carney played 18 games in a Canucks’ uniform, had 2 assists and was -5 before signing as a free agent with Minnesota, and Alen has never left Finland.

So, the Canucks had squandered their two second round picks, and didn’t make a selection between the 14th and 82nd picks – when Milan was selected.

They also didn’t make the playoffs.

The following is the list of the 2006 1st and 2nd round draft picks, and it’s apparent that only a few of those selected have played in the NHL to date.

courtesy of hockeydb.com

If the other NHL teams are asking themselves why they didn’t select Lucic, they should realize that Boston didn’t really know how good a player that they had drafted.

Bradley said the day of the draft: “…we really feel like he’s going to develop into a fine role player for our club eventually. He won’t be a star, but he’ll contribute.”

The sportsnet.ca assessors of talent disagree. They think that he can become an NHL all-star:

The Boston fans, however, knew that Milan was a keeper from the start.

mabrowndog wrote – at the time of Lucic’s selection:

by Ron Spence