Three months into his life on the other side of the Battle of Alberta, Milan Lucic says he’s in a much better place.
No, that’s not a thinly veiled shot at Edmonton or the Oilers.
He means a better place mentally, where he’s more comfortable with his role, his contributions and expectations on the Calgary Flames.
“I just feel like I’m more myself on a day-to-day basis,” said Lucic, who is the first to point out he’s still got plenty of room to grow as a Flame. “I’m building blocks to recapture (my form). All in all, I’m enjoying myself again and I’m enjoying playing hockey again and I’m enjoying everything you should enjoy playing the NHL again.
“I’m not blaming the city of Edmonton, I’m not blaming the fans, I’m not blaming my teammates there and I’m not even blaming my coaches there, even though I could sit here and tell you maybe I wasn’t used correctly in this situation or I wish I could have played more with this guy over that guy.
“I’m not here faulting anyone – I just think my whole mindset is back to just enjoying it again and having fun.”
Indeed, Friday will be exactly that – a blast.
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Making his first showing in the City of Champions since his summertime swap for James Neal, Lucic knows all eyes will be on him. They always have been for the six-foot-three, 231-pound wrecking ball.
But he takes great solace in the fact he isn’t the only one making his first appearance on the other side of the Battle of Alberta.
“You’ve got Toby (Tobias Rieder) and Talbs (Cam Talbot) and (Kris) Russell who used to be on the Calgary side, so there’s more to it than just me and Neal,” said Lucic. “It ramps up even more because of where the two teams are in the standings. I think that will make it a game not just for Albertans to circle on their calendar but the whole NHL can circle it.
“That almost takes some pressure off from me personally. That’s my mindset. I can’t talk about his mindset, but my mindset is it’s not me versus him. It’s Calgary versus Edmonton, and the two points mean more than any other score anyone else wants to settle. That’s the great thing about this game – it’s something for all of us to look forward to.”
Sure is.
As a member of four different NHL teams, the Vancouver native has had plenty of homecomings of sorts before. But Lucic admits there will be more than just butterflies he’ll be feeling ahead of Friday’s first all-Alberta clash of the year.
“Kind of like that little punch in the stomach you get before you run a race,” described the rugged winger.
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“That’s the feeling I’ll probably get before the game. I think it will definitely have a bit of nervousness, which I think is a good thing. I’m kind of comparing it to what it was like with Boston going into Montreal. When I was in L.A. the Kings/Ducks games were as heated as ever. Those were pretty crazy games. I think just because of where I am in my career I probably won’t have as many butterflies as I did my first game in Boston with the L.A. Kings. But I think it’ll be pretty crazy.”
The obvious comparisons have been made throughout the first three months of the season between Neal and Lucic, since their similarly bloated contracts were swapped with hopes of rebirths.
In both cases, their production has improved and contributions have been more significant, although Neal’s early scoring binge has him grabbing more headlines because of his 16-3 goal edge.
Neal was brought in to play top-six minutes he’d never get in Calgary and Lucic was brought in as a mentor to add depth, team toughness and Cup-winning experience.
Edmontonians most certainly saw Lucic’s play the last year-and-a-half deteriorate to the point they were thrilled to see new GM Ken Holland rid the club of a contract paying him $5.25 million for four more years.
Revered in Calgary where every touch of the puck is greeted by “Loooo,” it will be fascinating to see how the big man will be received at Rogers Place.
“I don’t know – we’ll see,” said the 31-year-old, who has clearly given it plenty of thought.
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“My first year things went great (23 goals). Not so great my last year-and-a-half (10 and six goals in his last two seasons). But the one thing I’ve got to say, the fans were good to me there. They never booed me. They always were good to me and they always appreciated me when I was there even when I was struggling. Maybe at the start they’ll do whatever they want, just to say whatever. Once you throw a few hits and the battles are on you obviously become the enemy just by nature.”
Lucic insists he’s heading into the game with plenty of gratitude for the way the city supported him during his three seasons as an Oiler.
“It wasn’t like they wanted me to fail – they wanted me to succeed the whole time I was there,” said Lucic.
“Even when I was struggling and I did have a chance on net, or finally got one, they ‘Looed’ me and cheered for me. But for whatever reason after my first season-and-a-half – if you look at my second year there I had like 27 points at Christmas and I was on pace for a career-high in points. But whatever happened during the Christmas break I was never able to recapture it. And it was almost like whatever I did I became more frustrating and I sunk deeper and couldn’t get myself out of it. It was one of those things where I think both parties were looking to move on like we did in the summer.”
