Should Canucks sign Milan Lucic this summer? He seems open to it

A pending unrestricted free agent, if Milan Lucic wants to play for his hometown team, this could be his last shot.

The East Vancouver native will celebrate his 35th birthday next week and is in the twilight of his career. Lucic is coming off a season that saw him score just seven goals and 19 points in 77 games, playing just 11:18 a night with the Calgary Flames.

But Lucic did prove to be capable at the IIHF World Championship, scoring four points in 10 games and helping Canada win a gold medal.

In an interview with Donnie and Dhali on CHEK, Lucic indicated that if the Canucks made him an offer, he would listen.

“I knew you were gonna hit me with that one,” Lucic said, laughing when pressed by co-host Rick Dhaliwal about his interest in signing with the Canucks.

“I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again. It’s always a dream for a hometown boy to play for his hometown team. So I would definitely listen to what they have to say if they came calling.”

Lucic listened to the Canucks’ offer back in 2016 but opted to sign a seven-year, $42 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers and a chance to play with Connor McDavid. He’s no longer viewed as a top-six winger, so Lucic will come more affordable now, but it’s unclear if the Canucks under new management have interest in Lucic in 2023.

In the interview with Dhaliwal and Don Taylor, Lucic did express a desire to play for a winning team. That would seem to lower the odds of a Vancouver homecoming.

“I’m gonna have to go through all my options and see what’s the best fit for me. One of the reasons why I did go to the World Championships was I wanted to have fun playing hockey again,” Lucic said. “I wanted to have fun being on a winning team again. To me, a lot of that will go into my decision as a UFA. First off, I have to see what my options are and go from there.”

Despite his age and lack of foot speed, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound forward can still provide a physical element. The Canucks want to get faster, so Lucic won’t help in that regard, but Vancouver could benefit from getting tougher too.

The problem with the Canucks signing anybody is that they’re already over the salary cap for next season, although there is lots of time left to move money around before October.

Will @27MilanLucic consider playing for the #Canucks if he is a UFA on July 1st?

Find out what Milan had to say about his future now!

Full interview..https://t.co/2kLCBaU1LJ pic.twitter.com/cGjWAtN6H5

— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) May 30, 2023

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