Lucic chose McDavid over hometown distractions
The Vancouver Canucks probably never had a chance at signing Milan Lucic.
The east Vancouver product told The Vancouver Sun via text message after he inked a seven-year, $42-million deal as an unrestricted free agent with the Edmonton Oilers on Friday, that the added distractions of playing in his hometown played a major role in why he didn’t sign with the Canucks.
He didn’t elaborate. He didn’t have to. It would have been like Bryan Adams or Michael Buble doing 41 concerts a winter here when things were going right for the team. Filling the ticket requests from friends and family and family of friends would have been a full-time job in itself.
The flip side: When things go bad for the club, Lucic, 28, would have been the local kid and former Vancouver Giants stalwart with the lofty contract who was supposed to help turn things around and wasn’t doing nearly enough to get it done.
Canucks general manager Jim Benning, who was working in the Boston Bruins’ front office as assistant general manager when Lucic was there, was said to be especially keen on signing Lucic. Benning was close enough to Lucic that he went to the memorial service for Lucic’s father Dobro after he died in April 2015.
The Oilers and the Canucks both missed the playoffs last season, but Edmonton appears to be trending in a positive direction more quickly.
The Canucks’ best players remain Henrik and Daniel Sedin, who will both turn 36 in September. The Oilers’ best player is 19-year-old Connor McDavid.
When asked why he picked Edmonton, Lucic merely texted back: “No. 97.” That’s McDavid’s jersey number.
“I’m getting a chance to play with one of the best hockey players in the world,” he later elaborated. “It’s special to do that and it’s in a place with a lot of history.”
Going to Edmonton reunites Lucic with Peter Chiarelli, the Oilers’ general manager who held the same title in Boston when Lucic was there.
Lucic says he’ll wear No. 27 in Edmonton, since his usual No. 17 has been retired by the Oilers for Jari Kurri.
Lucic wore 27 with the Giants, including in the 2007 Memorial Cup victory, which featured “The Shift,” a turn on the ice against Willie Desjardins’ Medicine Hat Tigers that became a Lucic calling card.