Milan Lucic is seeking a return to hockey after an arrest for assault and battery on a family and household member last November that ended his 17th season in the NHL. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound forward has spent the summer training in New Jersey, per Frank Seravelli of The Daily Face-Off, and would like to return to the league or potentially a league overseas. Lucic had returned to Boston eight years after being traded away in 2015. The Vancouver native played four games with the Bruins during the 2023-24 season with two assists.
Lucic was drafted in the second round, 50th overall, by Boston in the 2006 NHL Draft. The rugged left wing played 570 career regular season games with Boston and scored 139 goals with 205 assists. In postseason play with the Bruins, Lucic contributed 26 goals and 35 assists in 96 playoff games and was a member of the 2011 Stanley Cup-winning team. He also played in the 2013 Cup Final where he registered 19 points in that postseason run.
Overall, Lucic has played 1,177 regular season games for four NHL teams (Boston, Los Angeles, Edmonton, and Calgary). In that period, Lucic has scored 233 goals with 353 assists and 1,301 penalty minutes. Lucic also won a World Championship Gold Medal with Canada in 2023. If Lucic is to return to the NHL, commissioner Gary Bettman will have to decide if the former Memorial Cup champion can return to the league even though Lucic has not been formally suspended by the NHL.
Prosecutors dropped a domestic violence charge against Milan Lucic on February 16, saying the decision by his wife to invoke marital privilege made it impossible for them to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. After Lucic’s wife opted not to testify, the motion by prosecutors to admit 911 call information into evidence was denied, effectively ending their court case.
NHL training camps will begin in mid-September with the regular season starting on October 8.
