Even though Lucic scored 0 goals in last year's playoffs, and a modest 26 goals in the regular season. He's got 15 goals and 20 assists in 65 playoff games. Which isn't good at all. He isn't good on a Power Play. You'd never want to see him on the ice short-handed. He's an inconsistent defender. He's slow, lumbering, inconsistently skates.
I'm just not sold on Lucic. Not to the tune of $6 million. And certainly not when this team is committed to having a roster as similar to the 2011 Cup team as possible.
The problem is, that team won the Cup because Tim Thomas played at inhuman levels. And the Bruins played some teams that they matched up well against (they could out-muscle Montreal, Tampa Bay, and Vancouver. The Flyers had catastrophic goaltending difficulties).
All the players that the Bruins have retained are good, even very good players. None are great. Milan Lucic is not a great player. He's got quality, but he's not a scorer, not a passer, not an any-situation-player, and his production is unreliable. He's a good 2nd liner. The Bruins have one #2 line, but lots of 2nd liners.
If hockey is played in 2012-13, we'll see how the Bruins contend against teams that have done more complex things to improve apart from extending all the contracts of their current players.
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