Bruins bring back forward Milan Lucic on one-year deal - ESPN

Milan Lucic is once again a member of the Boston Bruins, with the hulking veteran forward signing a one-year deal, the team announced Saturday.

The Bruins have yet to confirm the details of the contract, with Lucic's deal reportedly worth $1 million, according to TSN.

«It's really exciting for me and it's really exciting for my family,» Lucic told TSN. «It's been eight years since I was a Bruin.… My kids are older, and they get to watch me and remember me as a Bruin.»

Lucic, 35, returns to the team that drafted him after spending eight seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. He scored seven goals and 19 points in 77 games with the Flames, who missed out on the final Western Conference wild-card spot by two points.

Going back to Boston does more than reunite Lucic with the franchise he won a Stanley Cup with in 2011. Lucic returns to the Bruins at a time when they are trying to remain a contender on a budget during what appears to be a period of significant change coming on the horizon.

The Bruins finished the 2022-23 season with the best regular-season record in NHL history — 65-12-5 — only to be eliminated in the first round by the Florida Panthers. Having such an early exit meant the Bruins had more time to think about an offseason that was expected to require careful navigation.

CapFriendly projected the Bruins would have less than $11 million in cap space. A week ago, the Bruins didn't even have that much space until they traded Taylor Hall and the rights to unrestricted free agent Nick Foligno to the Chicago Blackhawks, which allowed them to clear Hall's $6 million cap hit.

But that also came with the context that Tyler Bertuzzi, Tomas Nosek, Connor Clifton and Dmitry Orlov were