|
BOSTON -- Following a season he described as “too inconsistent,” Bruins forward Milan Lucic said Monday that he hopes to stay with the team next season as he enters the final year of the three-year contract extension he signed in 2012. “I hope to be here, and my plan moving forward is to always remain a Bruin,” Lucic said. “I hope that it’s me on the team moving forward, and I hope that I’m in their vision for the future, but I can only control so much.” With the Bruins having missed the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons, major changes are expected to be made to the team, something Lucic said will come as no surprise. Given the $6 million cap hit his contract provides and the fact that he will be an unrestricted free agent following next season, Lucic’s contract has been speculated as one the team may look to move in order to free up cap space.  Although there’s been outside speculation of such, Lucic (whose contract also has a modified no-trade clause) said he and general manager Peter Chiarelli have never spoken of a trade being in the works.
“It’s a decision that will require some thought,” Chiarelli said of holding onto Lucic past next season. “He’s a big, strong player that we rely on. He’s paid a good salary now and if we extend him he’ll be paid a good salary going forward. “You’d want more production in general from not just him but some other players and he falls in that category.” Last season, Lucic racked up 44 points on 18 goals and 26 assists, his lowest totals in each category since the 2009-10 season (outside of the strike-shortened 2012-13 season). Despite his struggles, which mainly took place at the start of the season, Lucic believes he’s capable of bouncing back to be the top-line force he was in years prior. “As far as a new contract goes and a contract investment goes, you can make the case that I still have something to prove in order to earn that," Lucic said. “I believe that I showed that I can still play at a really high level. It’s just the fact that I need to find that consistency again in my game and that’s why I continue to say I need to do what I can with this time to find that again. “I can control the things that I can control and, like I said, my plan is to hopefully be here for my whole career, but obviously that has to come from both sides meeting at the middle.” While what the Bruins plan to do with Lucic remains to be seen, Chiarelli did note that it’s tough to quantify the intangibles that Lucic has brought to the team in their previous playoff seasons given his size and strength at the wing position. With the Bruins hoping to return to playoff contention next season, Lucic figures to play a key role in that process. “It would be really, really hard to see myself in different colors, in a different jersey or in a different city or different organization,” Lucic said. “Like I said, I hope to continue being a Bruin. I hope they want me here as well. It has to come from both sides and both ends. “I need to just do what I can with the time I have this offseason to get myself healthy again physically and I think, most of all, mentally so I can get back to being that player that I know that I can be and I believe that I can be.”
|
