BOSTON — The Boston Bruins’ makeover that began in the front office has reached the front line on offense and the top pairing on defense.
The Bruins traded left wing Milan Lucic to the Los Angeles Kings and defenseman Dougie Hamilton to the Calgary Flames. The return included the 13th and 15th picks in the NHL draft Friday night.
Change was certain when the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time in Claude Julien’s eight seasons as coach.
The first move was the firing of general manager Peter Chiarelli on April 15 after he left the Bruins in a tight salary cap spot. He was succeeded on May 20 by his assistant, Don Sweeney. Somewhat surprisingly, Sweeney announced on June 5 that Julien would keep his job despite team president Cam Neely’s disdain for Julien’s defensive-minded approach, which is likely to change.
“The game evolves, the rules change,” Julien said after learning he would stay. “The personnel of your team changes.”
That sure did Friday.
The Bruins traded the hard-hitting Lucic for minor-league defenseman Colin Miller, goalie Martin Jones and the 13th pick in the draft. Lucic spent all eight of his NHL seasons with Boston, scoring 139 goals and 203 assists in 566 regular-season games.
But he is coming off a disappointing season in which he had 18 goals and 26 assists in 81 games. He can become an unrestricted free agent after the 2015-16 season and is scheduled to make $6.5 million next season. Sweeney felt a long-term extension for Lucic would be too costly.
Miller, 22, had 19 goals and 33 assists in 70 regular-season games for Manchester in the American Hockey League last season and helped the Monarchs win the Calder Cup. Jones, 25, played 15 games for the Kings last season, posting a 4-5-2 record and 2.25 goals against average
Hamilton developed into a solid defenseman after Boston took him with the ninth pick of the 2011 draft at the age of 18. He played beside Zdeno Chara last season and, in 178 career games for Boston, had 22 goals and 61 assists. The Bruins made “a very significant contract offer” to Hamilton, a restricted free agent, Sweeney said, “and it didn’t lead us to where we thought we’d be able to, with him being comfortable being a part of our group long-term.”
So they sent him to Calgary for the 15th, 45th and 52nd picks in this year’s draft.
The two trades gave Boston three consecutive picks in the first round – Nos. 13, 14 and 15 – as well as three second-round picks.
The Bruins used those picks to take defenseman Jakub Zboril, left wing Jake DeBrusk and right wing Zachary Senyshyn.
“All three of them can really skate,” Bruins GM Don Sweeney said.
Zboril tallied 13 goals and 20 assists in 44 games for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this past season. DeBrusk played for the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League, finishing with 42 goals and 39 assists in 72 games, and Senyshyn collected 26 goals and 19 assists in 66 games for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.
“The cap system in the NHL makes it tough to get good players,” DeBrusk said. “I think the moves they made were good. They’re making strides – I mean, we are making strides.”
The Bruins also parted with forward Carl Soderberg, sending him to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday for a sixth-round pick in 2016.
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